There was a pressing need to get after Dortmund from the get-go. 

And it wasn’t just because Rangers are desperate to continue their run in the Europa League. 

The 3-0 defeat to Celtic left questions aplenty about Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his team. 

The players looked passive, as if transfixed by a combination of the Parkhead ferment and the aggression and intensity of the Postecoglou style. 

Where was the press? Where was the composure? Where was the organisation? Could they perform in truly big games under the new boss? 

The answers provided since in matches against Hearts, Hibs and now emphatically in Germany against the second-best team in the Bundesliga provide answers. And clear ones. 

This manager is no mug. These players still have plenty to give. Celtic had a good night, but Rangers were miles off the pace. And nothing is over just yet.  

READ MORE: Giovanni van Bronckhorst Rangers Q+A in full: Bursting with pride and executing the game plan

It is as if following that night in Glasgow’s East End, Rangers were a team awoken from a temporary slumber, jolted to life by a vivid nightmare. 

So unlike their trip across the Clyde, they went to Dortmund and played on the front foot from minute one. It was aggressive, it was powerful and it was structured.  

The Germans simply couldn’t cope. This was no hit and run. Rangers were the better side for the vast majority of the game.  

The heroes were plentiful and many. 

Calvin Bassey, a rock at the back, able to use his pace to help Rangers keep the high line that brought them so much attacking success. 

John Lundstram finally settling into the midfield and producing the kind of quality that made Steven Gerrard push the boat out to snap him up. 

Ryan Kent twisting and turning with the grace of a ballet dancer, tormenting a defence full of experienced, expensive guys he took down a peg or two and then some. 

Alfredo Morelos deciding to be the ravenous version of El Buffalo. Van Bronckhorst has performed a football miracle because a man who looked a fading force earlier in the season is unplayable once again. 

And while the 11 heroes on the pitch will get the praise they are due, individually and collectively, this has to be the manager’s triumph. 

Rocky Balboa once presciently said: “It ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” 

GVB got hit with a haymaker at Parkhead that would have knocked many a coach to the canvas. 

At Aberdeen, Ross County and Celtic the signs were there of a malaise, of players not performing, of a bounce disintegrating, of a challenge for silverware falling apart. 

READ MORE: Respectful Dortmund star Jude Bellingham 'can’t wait to play at Ibrox' despite Rangers defeat

The manager faced all that down and has come back with the strongest possible three-match statement. 

He’s achieved a result that will go down in history, forever destined to be mentioned in tabloid listicles. 

It’s the kind of game that would have inspired an instant DVD or VHS (ask your parents kids) in days of yonder. 

And more than that, it has restored confidence. 

Rangers may have taken a right hook from Ivan Drago. They might have even been sprawled on the canvas for a moment.  

But if they can go to Germany and win playing a better side in exactly the manner they should have approached the Old Firm game then they might just be a bloody good side after all. 

When Celtic come calling to Ibrox on April 3rd, full of vim on the back of the last game, van Bronckorst can look his players in the eye, and tell them to channel the spirit of Dortmund.  

Because once you have faced them down on their own patch and won, there’s certainly nobody in Scotland to fear.