Claudio Reyna enjoyed arguably his greatest day as a Rangers player against Celtic – and now son Giovanni could go up against the Hoops in the Champions League.
Reyna spent a couple of years at Ibrox after joining from German side Wolfsburg and helped Dick Advocaat’s Light Blues clinch the title on enemy territory with a 3-0 win at Parkhead in just his THIRD appearance for Rangers.
The USA legend – he was capped 115 times for the American national team – formed a close bond with fellow midfielder Giovanni van Bronckhorst during his time in Glasgow. And while Reyna had moved to Sunderland by the time his second child was born but named him after his Dutch team-mate who later went on to manage Rangers, including against Dortmund en route to the Europa League final. Then Dortmund boss Marco Rose said of Van Bronckhorst and Reyna Jnr: “They’ve probably known each other for as long as Gio was still peeing his pants.”
Now Giovanni could line up against the Hoops when Brendan Rodgers takes his Celtic side to the Westfalen Stadium on Tuesday night. Reyna has been out with a hamstring injury but boss Nuri Sahin said last week that he could be in contention to feature after a speedy recovery. He said: “Things are looking good for Gio, surprisingly quickly too.
“We said that he would only be available after the international break, but the way things are going right now, it’s possible that he could be considered for the last two games before the break against Celtic and Union Berlin. Everything he’s doing looks very good.”
Reyna began his career with New York City FC before moving to Borussia Dortmund where he progressed through the youth ranks and became the youngest scorer in German Cup history at the age of just 17. He had a loan spell at Nottingham Forest earlier this year in the English Premier League.