A peep of the whistle from Italian referee Daniele Orsato and away we go.

The teams are out as the rain tumbles down and that anthem is booming out.

The BT Sport cameras have just picked out a smiling Sir Alex Ferguson deep in conversation with Rangers legend John Greig.

It's a gloomy, wet night in Govan but the stadium is buzzing with anticipation as we approach kick-off time.

Summer signing Antonio Colak has scored in his last three Rangers appearances. Can the Croatia striker keep that run going this evening?

"My confidence is always high, it doesn’t matter if I score or not, I try to work hard for the team,” said Colak yesterday.

"I am happy now with this period of scoring, it makes me hungry for more."

Image source, SNS

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst tells BT Sport his last message to his players will be to "enjoy the environment and the atmosphere" at Ibrox.

"We are strong at home," the Dutchman adds. "We have to make sure we maintain our normal play and defend really well against a quality side.

"In these games when teams are alike, the games are decided in the details."

On coming up against former team-mate Ruud van Nistelrooy, Van Bronckhorst adds: "He's a competitor, so am I - I hope we see that on the pitch with both our teams."

Image source, SNS

PSV boss Ruud van Nistelrooy tells BT Sport: "It's great to be back here. I had two great games here as a player (defeat for PSV, win for Manchester United).

"I know what the atmosphere brings and it's great to bring the players here. We rate Rangers very highly. We have to respect them and see what we can achieve."

Image source, SNS

Netherlands striker Luuk de Jong is back at the club after spells with Sevilla and Barcelona.

Winger Cody Gakpo scored 21 goals last term plus two for the Dutch national team, and has already netted three times this season.

Joey Veerman and Ivory Coast international Ibrahim Sangare form a solid partnership in the midfield engine room.

Image source, SNS

"In Holland, people think Monaco is a more difficult opponent than Rangers so PSV will have a better chance, but I know the Rangers squad a little better and also what European football does at Rangers and at Ibrox," former Rangers star Ronald de Boer told BBC Scotland this weekend.

"I hope of course as an ex-Rangers player that they go through, but I think it's really a 50-50, I can't put my finger on who is the favourite."

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored a penalty at Ibrox for PSV when the teams met as Champions League group rivals back in 1999.

Rangers had already scored twice, through Lorenzo Amoruso and Michael Mols, while Neil McCann and Mols, again, made it 4-1.

Jorg Albertz scored in a 1-0 win in Eindhoven a few weeks earlier.

The first meeting between the clubs was in the 1978-79 European Cup, with Rangers winning 3-2 away after a goalless draw in Glasgow.

PSV prevailed when Jeremain Lens scored the only goal of the 2010-11 Europa League round of 16 tie 14 minutes into the second leg at Ibrox.

Image source, SNS

This will be Rangers' 23rd meeting with opposition from the Netherlands in Europe and, appropriately for 'going Dutch', the honours are evenly split with nine wins, nine defeats and four draws.

Rangers hammered Willem II 4-0 on the road in a one-off tie in 2020-21 Europa League qualifying, while they beat Feyenoord 1-0 at Ibrox and drew 2-2 away in Europa League Group G in 2019-20.

Neil McCann
Former Rangers winger on BBC Sportsound

"Ruud van Nistelrooy has had a really good start - he won the Super Cup against Ajax in a pretty crazy match and that kind of sums up his start quite nicely," Dutch football expert Finley Crebolder told BBC Scotland this week.

The founder of the Clockwork Oranje podcast went on: "Going forward he's got them playing really well, really lethal on the counter attack, but at the back they're really vulnerable still."

Ruud van Nistelrooy, who played for PSV from 1998 to 2001, has made an impressive start to his managerial career, winning the Dutch Super Cup after a 5-3 tussle with Ajax, and that has been followed by 4-1 and 5-2 Eredivisie victories, along with that seven-goal qualifier with Monaco.

Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst is a former Netherlands team-mate of PSV manager Ruud van Nistelrooy and he also worked under his assistant, Fred Rutten, at Feyenoord.

“I haven’t been in touch with him lately," said Van Bronckhorst at Monday's media conference.

“I never thought that he would be a coach, I never thought of being a coach when I was playing either.

"He has been given the chance to coach the first team and PSV is a place he is familiar with and the back-up and support he gets from the club is similar to what I got at Feyenoord, so I am looking forward to meeting him again, to see a player I played with also making his steps in management."

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Van Nistelrooy, who was promoted to the role of PSV head coach this summer, said it will be “special” to meet up with his ex-team-mate

"We get on well with each other, we know each other from the changing rooms, our families know each other," he revealed, before adding: “But we can meet at other times for dinner and hang out.

"We are both defending our own badges and that is the way it is."

Image source, SNS

Steven Thompson
Former Rangers striker on BBC Sportsound

Image source, SNS

PSV Eindhoven were in all three European competitions last season, dropping out of the Champions League at this stage to Benfica.

The Dutch side then finished third behind Monaco and Real Sociedad in their Europa League group, while Leicester City ended their involvement in the Conference League in the quarter-finals.

That all amounts to 18 games, just one less than Rangers played on their run to Seville.

Nights under the lights at Ibrox were electric during last season's run to the Europa League final, with Rangers scoring three in successive knockout wins over Red Star Belgrade, Braga and RB Leipzig, which followed a memorable 6-4 aggregate triumph over Borussia Dortmund.

Rangers are unbeaten in seven European home games, winning six of those.

Both teams started in the third qualifying round, with Rangers staging a rousing comeback from 2-0 down to defeat Belgian outfit Union Saint-Gilloise 3-0 at Ibrox last week.

PSV Eindhoven were involved in a thriller against Monaco, finding an extra-time goal at home for a 4-3 aggregate success.

Image source, SNS

Winger Ryan Kent is back after missing Saturday's 4-0 success against St Johnstone and James Sands has recovered from illness to slot in at left centre-half.

Midfield veteran Steven Davis earns a starting place, along with Tom Lawrence.

Ryan Jack, Scott Wright and Rabbi Matondo drop to the bench for the hosts, while Ben Davies is out with an injury.

Image source, BBC Sport

Rangers: McLaughlin, Tavernier, Goldson, Sands, Barisic, Lundstram, Davis, Lawrence, Tillman, Colak, Kent.

Substitutes: McGregor, McCrorie, Yilmaz, Jack, Matondo, Kamara, Morelos, Wright, Sakala, Arfield, King, Devine.

Image source, BBC Sport

PSV Eindhoven: Benitez, Max, Obispo, Ramalho, Teze, Gutierrez, Veerman, Sangare, Gakpo, De Jong, Saibari.

Substitutes: Drommel, Waterman, Til, Simons, Van Ginkel, Branthwaite, Luckassen, Bakayoko, Mwene, Savio, Oppegard.