Sheyi Ojo dedicated his winning goal against Feyenoord to the late Fernando Ricksen and said he hoped Rangers’ Europa League win had done the Dutchman proud.
The winger’s 23rd minute thunderbolt was the difference between the sides at Ibrox as Rangers took three points in their opening group stage game.
Ibrox observed a moment of silence before the stadium rose in tribute to Ricksen in the second minute, a nod to his shirt number.
Liverpool loanee Ojo now has five goals, four of them coming in the Europa League.
Speaking to RangersTV he said: “It was a special night, for obvious reasons, it was sad news yesterday but I think we have done Fernando Ricksen proud and we have done his family and the club proud.
“I have scored like that when I was younger but not for a while I am happy to contribute towards the team, the manager has given me a role in the team to try and get goals and assists and so far this season I have done that.
“It was powerful (the atmosphere) and it was a credit to the fans, they helped us from minute one and it was like having a 12th man on the pitch.
“For players like me it is a great confidence boost to have the fans behind us and it was a great game to be part of and an amazing feeling to get the three points.”
Rangers will head to Switzerland for matchday two in Group G against Young Boys at the start of October – they were beaten 2-1 by Porto on Thursday evening.
He continued: “It is a tough group, we have top opposition in our group and we knew that if we were to have a good chance of getting into the knockout stages we have to win these sorts of games.
“We managed to do that and credit to the team and the staff who have helped us win these sort of games. We look forward to the next game against Young Boys now.”
