If Leon Balogun were to sum up the greatest successes of his sporting career, the following events would probably come together: promotion to the Bundesliga with SV Darmstadt 98 in the 2014/15 season, winning the Scottish championship with Glasgow Rangers last year and taking part in the World Cup Nigeria 2018.

On Wednesday evening (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League and on RTL) a title is to be added that outshines everything else: In Seville, the 33-year-old wants to win the Europa League final with Rangers.

Against Eintracht Frankfurt.

"It's a doable task," says Balogun, which is by no means meant to sound disrespectful.

The central defender knows about the qualities of the Bundesliga club.

"You don't just throw Barcelona and West Ham out like that," he says.

And from his time at FSV Mainz 05, for whom he played from 2015 to 2018, he remembers Eintracht as very physical and unpleasant opponents.

"Especially when something is at stake, she always appears very closed."

On the one hand, the Berlin-born German-Nigerian is convinced that his coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst will come up with the right tactical tricks.

On the other hand, he can hardly formulate his own chances of success more defensively than a player in a club whose fans have the motto "fear no foe" - "fear no enemy".

That sounds martial, but the supporters of the Rangers expect nothing more and nothing less than this from their team.

Conversely, they are no less willing to give everything for their club.

"Unconditional Love"

"Our fans are characterized by the unconditional love, the unconditional support," says Balogun.

"It can get absolutely awkward when things don't go the way they want, but again, that always comes out of love.

For the club, they felt like they were going to their deaths, and sometimes they overshoot the mark.

Then you need a thick skin as a player.”

Leon Balogun can obviously deal with it well, this passion suits him, he says.

"I'm known as a fighter" - one of the basic virtues demanded at Rangers.

"Our fans want you as a player to embody that pride that they have in themselves," says Balogun, adding that the fanbase isn't just limited to Scotland, it's global.

Even in Dubai there are several thousand followers.

When the club won its first league title last year after its bankruptcy in 2012 and a fresh start in the fourth division, "they collected money to let the Burj al Arab shine in our club colours".

This too is an expression of love, passion and obsession.

"It's a nice feeling to be part of it."

UEFA's bad joke

Balogun has been part of it for two years.

When his contract in Mainz expired in 2018, he first moved to English Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion FC, before signing him to Rangers in 2020.

The central defender was a regular player until a long-lasting muscular injury and a few setbacks threw him out of rhythm.

He's fit again now and looking forward to Sevilla.

Not only do the two teams meet there, but an estimated 100,000 Rangers fans meet around 50,000 Eintracht supporters.

It seems like a bad joke by UEFA to have chosen the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán as a venue that can only hold 40,000 spectators.

"It has something of an elemental force"

The German defender in the ranks of the Rangers still expects a spectacle in the stands.

"Our fans are the best thing I've seen in my career so far," says Balogun.

Having 50,000 of them behind you in the local Ibrox Park "that has something of an elemental force".

However, the Hessians should not be underestimated in this regard either.

“They also have a huge fan base, one of the best in Germany.

They're really alarming."

The Rangers supporters can apparently not only be loud and violent, but have also retained a quiet, romantic streak.

"Make us dream" is the slogan that you hear and read all over the city and on social media these days, "let's dream".

After the semi-final win over RB Leipzig, he still had to pinch himself to be sure he wasn't living in a dream, says Leon Balogun.

At that moment he felt “a great deal of pride and bewilderment”.

There will be a follow-up on Wednesday evening.

“Winning this title would be sensational.

That would be a really big number in the club's 150th year."