Rangers coach Sascha Lense has revealed he was forced to change the colour of his car, because of the rivalry with Celtic.
BILD have an interview with the 50-year-old today. He discussed various issues at Rangers, including the Celtic rivalry meaning he had to change car selection when he first arrived at Ibrox.
Lense is a part of Danny Röhl’s backroom staff at Rangers, having moved to Ibrox alongside him earlier this year. The pair have worked together before, previously at RB Leipzig. Lense is now the official Performance Manager under the German coach.
The former player has a wealth of experience to his name, working at the likes of Leipzig, Schalke, Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday before his move to Rangers this year.
It means he’s experienced one or two derbies in his time. But none quite prepared him for the level of Rangers’ rivalry with Martin O’Neill’s Celtic it seems.
That’s a fierce one, to say the least, perhaps one of the most intense in world football. So intense, in fact, that he was told in no uncertain terms that he couldn’t have a green car.
Obviously, for many in Glasgow, green equals Celtic.
“I would describe myself as derby-experienced,” he said.
“I was on the bench for Dortmund vs. Schalke, Man United vs. Liverpool, and the Steel Derby in Sheffield between United and Wednesday. But there’s simply no getting around the Old Firm; it’s hard to beat.
“I had ordered a leased car, a green Mini Cooper, just as it was advertised. Immediately, they said, ‘You can’t drive that, nobody drives green here.’ I actually had to exchange it. Now I have a black one.”
An early lesson in the Rangers and Celtic rivalry for Sascha Lense.
