GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst has revealed that he had never expected Aaron Ramsey to be part of the Rangers squad for the Europa League knockout round play-off match against Borussia Dortmund.

Fans of the Ibrox club were disappointed when Van Bronckhorst confirmed on Wednesday that Ramsey, a January loan signing from Juventus, would not play in the second leg encounter with the Germans.

However, the Dutchman was well aware the Welsh midfielder, who trained at Auchenhowie yesterday and could be involved in the cinch Premiership match against Motherwell in Govan tomorrow, was not going to feature on Thursday night. 

“No, he didn’t have a setback,” he said. “He wasn’t meant to be in the squad yesterday, so for me it’s just going as planned. Today he is on the pitch, so we have to see his progress day by day. But he definitely didn’t get a setback.

“It’s been a very demanding game yesterday so we will have another day tomorrow to assess the players who played, how they are physically and then prepare for the game on Sunday and decide which players will start.”

Elsewhere, Van Bronckhorst revealed that Amad Diallo, the Manchester United loanee who was left on the bench against Dortmund, was taking time to adapt to life at Rangers. 

“He had a good start,” he said. “But you also know the change in environment for him is an aspect that he feels.

“Also, the level of playing. He played a couple of games with Manchester United, but more with their reserves. So the intensity he will feel in Scotland is much higher.

“But you can see his quality. In the game last week against Dundee United, when he came on he had some good chances to score. He has the development you can expect from a young player who didn’t play a lot in the last months.”