Giovanni van Bronckhorst admits he never saw himself or Ruud van Nistelrooy becoming managers

In a Dutch dressing room packed with powerful personalities, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ruud van Nistelrooy were not the ones minutely analysing every element of the team’s tactics.

They played. They often won. And then they moved on to the next game. That’s how it was over a dozen years as Holland team-mates, a period interrupted by Van Nistelrooy twice making temporary retirements from international football.

Van Bronckhorst never imagined the supreme centre-forward who became his friend would move into management. And he felt exactly the same way about himself.

But the bug got them both in the end. And here they now are. Going head-to-head for a £30million-plus prize in tonight’s first leg of the Champions League play-off between Rangers and PSV Eindhoven.

As unlikely as it may have once seemed, both are now driven to replicate the immense success of their playing careers from the technical area.

Van Bronckhorst is further down the line as a coach. A league title with Feyenoord was followed by a Scottish Cup and a place in the Europa League final from his first part-season in charge of Rangers. The Champions League is the next box to be ticked in an impressive continental record.

For Van Nistelrooy, this is all new. He replaced Roger Schmidt as PSV’s head coach in the summer and has made a positive start. Ajax were beaten in the Dutch Super Cup before Monaco were edged out to set up a reunion with Van Bronckhorst.

The stakes could scarcely be higher. For his part, the Ibrox boss can’t wait to lock horns with a man who has been both colleague and rival in their previous stories.

‘I haven’t been in touch with him lately,’ a smiling Van Bronckhorst said of Van Nistelrooy. ‘We both have (charitable) foundations, so I think the last time we spoke in person was about our foundations.

‘I never thought he would be a coach. I never had the thought of being a coach either when I was playing. That started after. Ruud did his badges for a couple of years and made the decision to get his experience in the academy of PSV.

‘He did well with the Under-19s and then last year the second team of PSV. He’s been given a chance to coach the first team now. PSV, of course, is a place where he is very familiar. I think the back-up and support he gets from the club is similar to what I had with Feyenoord.

‘I’m looking forward to meeting him again and also to seeing a player I played with making his steps as a manager.’

Why, though, did Van Bronckhorst not believe this would be Van Nistelrooy’s path?

‘When you play in the Dutch team with people like Frank de Boer and Phillip Cocu, those are players who were always talking about the shape and the focal points in the team,’ he continued.

‘They were like an extension of the coach, so you had more of that feeling with them. I also played with Peter Bosz and he was already talking as a coach.

‘I didn’t have that with Ruud and I’m sure people didn’t have it with me when I was playing.

‘But, in the end, I think the most important thing is that once the job gets you and you get more experience and want to give everything to develop yourself as a coach, that’s when you recognise a player is becoming a manager after his career.’

They have met once before at Ibrox. And how dearly Van Bronckhorst would love a similar outcome this evening.

In October 1999, a Rangers side under Dick Advocaat’s management routed PSV 4-1. Van Nistelrooy netted a penalty that night, but it counted for little as the home support basked in a comprehensive Champions League success. Advocaat’s men also won the return match 1-0.

‘I played against him at Man United and also when he was at Madrid,’ said Van Bronckhorst, reflecting on his time with Arsenal and Barcelona.

‘Of course, there were more games with him. Playing alongside him brings back more memories.

‘I did play against Ruud when it was Rangers against PSV in the ’90s, when we were in the Champions League.

‘You could see the talent he possessed at that time. It was special for me to play against a Dutch team, as it was for my Dutch team-mates and Dick Advocaat. It’s good to see him back again.’

Tonight conjures some similar emotions. Van Bronckhorst would obviously love to put on another show for a Dutch television audience, but it’s not in his character to become distracted by any personal sideshows.

‘Of course you want to have a positive performance and going through to the group stage is our main objective,’ he added.

‘Playing against a Dutch team as a Dutchman is different. I see many familiar faces and journalists from Holland that I haven’t seen in months and years and it is special for me.

‘In the end, I have to concentrate on the game plan and the games we play and make sure that the game-management is there.’

Over recent times in UEFA competition, Rangers have regularly relied on the power of Ibrox to get the job done. Last week’s second-leg comeback against Union Saint-Gilloise continued the trend.

Having the first leg at home alters the dynamic. Van Bronckhorst, though, is confident the venue won’t be found wanting as his side pursue a positive result to take to the Philips Stadium next Wednesday evening.

‘I came last November (as Rangers manager) and the first game was against Sparta Prague in the Europa League,’ recalled Van Bronckhorst.

‘The atmosphere was fantastic. Every game we played after that, the atmosphere is there. I have no doubt that it will be the same.

‘In the knockout stage of the Europa League, Red Star was the first one where we played at home in the first leg. We won 3-0.

‘You want to still be in the tie or have an advantage, of course, when you play the second game away from home.

‘We have to be in very good condition and on top of our game. In the last tie against Union, we were under-par playing away and had to give everything to make sure we got through after losing two goals.

‘Against PSV, we have to be there for two games and two nights. The differences now are so little, so I think it will be decided by details in the games.’