EUROPA LEAGUE ROUND OF 16 LEVER CRUISIN’

Bundesliga giants stun Ibrox with classy display to take home healthy lead

STEVEN GERRARD last night insisted he hopes football survives the coronavirus after watching his men catch a cold against Bayer Leverkusen.

Rangers were outclassed by the Germans but the Ibrox boss refused to call for a tournament suspension and insisted he’s ready to play the return behind closed doors.

He said: “I’m not going to sit here after a 3-1 defeat, while it’s advantage to Leverkusen and say tournament should be cancelled. That’s not the right thing to say. We’ll follow UEFA and do what we need to do.

“Thankfully the game against Celtic is going ahead this weekend with the crowd here so we have to focus on that big one.”

Kai Havertz’s Var-sanctioned penalty for a George Edmundson hand ball just before half-time and a second half strike from Chilean international Charles Aranguiz put Peter Bosz’s impressive Bundesliga outfit in charge.

Defender Edmundson’s header raised hopes Rangers could complete another remarkable rescue mission similar to that against Braga in the last round but they were snuffed out by Leon Bailey’s late clincher.

Bosz claimed in the build-up to the game the Europa League had been devalued and should be postponed.

Last night he added: “I hope the return leg goes ahead next week but I really have no idea. These are crazy times with games being cancelled and played without fans. The fans must be there. The reason we play professional football is for the fans.

“I know my opinion isn’t popular with the authorities but if we can’t have any fans next week, don’t play the match. We don’t play football for ourselves, we play for the supporters.

“I’d like to thank Rangers fans for creating a great atmosphere here, especially after Rangers scored. In that five minutes afterwards, the atmosphere was incredible.”

Of the game Gerrard admitted: “The scoreline is a tough one for us to take, losing 3-1 at home is disappointing.

“However, you have to pay respect to opposition, they’re a good team who play with a good style and boast some real high class individuals.

“We were too respectful in the first half. We had a good shape and organisation but were passive within that shape and were not aggressive enough.

“I got the response I wanted in the second half as we forced them into errors and got some success by playing on the front foot.

“The second goal we conceded was a top, top finish. I was extremely disappointed with the third as we didn’t defend that situation very well at all.

“It felt like like a killer, especially as we’d done ever so well to get back into the game. If the match had finished 2-1 it would not have been the end of the world.

“But we will go next week and give it our best shot and hopefully find a 90-minute performance.”

THE KILLER Leon Bailey (far left) curls home the third goal for Leverkusen last night UPS AND DOWNS Edmundson after scoring (left) but it was his mistake that led to Havertz’s penalty