‘Hopefully we can do it again’ – Kemar Roofe dreaming of Europa League final redemption after Real Betis heroics

After leading Rangers to the competition’s last-16, super sub Kemar Roofe acknowledged he is already daydreaming of another trip to the Europa League championship.

The Jamaican forward, who played for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team that advanced to the final in 2022, pulled out more valiant performances in Seville, Spain, to end a thrilling match against Real Betis on the European arena.

Roofe made an immediate impact after climbing off the bench to sweep home the winner in the 78th minute at the Estadio Benito Villamarin – his first goal for the club since August.

The 30-year-old is optimistic that the current group of players can replicate the magic of their incredible run to the final last year by making it all the way to this season’s showpiece in Dublin, even though six games may stand in their way. They qualified for the knockout stages as Group C winners after the 3-2 victory.

In retrospect, Roofe informed TNT Sports of the intense drama that took place in Andalucia that night: “It was chaos, full of emotion and hard work.” We were able to obtain the three points for which we had come here. I practice this all week to help the team win games and to be focused whenever I do have the chance to play, which happily I do.

“It’s special (playing for Rangers in Europe). In my time at the club we’ve always had special moments, getting to the final in one of the seasons and hopefully we can do the same this time. Hopefully we get to the final again this season. It’s a cliche but it’s game by game. That’s the way we did it when we did get to the final.”

Despite their historic win – Rangers first in European competition against Spanish opposition in the country – Roofe vowed the squad won’t celebrate the victory and instead turn their focus straight on to Sunday’s Viaplay Cup Final against Aberdeen at Hampden Park.

“We’ll not even celebrate,” he added. “As boring as it is, we need to win. Now we are going to focus on Sunday. One of the things the gaffer said before this game was no one can even think about the final, this was more important. We have got this out the way, got the three points and now we can recover and concentrate on Sunday.”

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