Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gers Euro dream over
Gers shot down by Germans as Europa League dream dies
STEVEN GERRARD watched his players get a Europa League lesson in Leverkusen last night - then challenged them and the Ibrox board to raise their standard to Champions League level.
Rangers tumbled out of Europe against a classy side who Gerrard admitted were a grade or two above his side.
But the Ibrox boss
(right) applauded his men for taking great strides on the continent for the second straight season.
And he urged them to learn from Leverkusen if they want to take the next step.
Gerrard added to his squad this week with the signings of strikers Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten in a £6million-plus splurge.
But he wants even more if the progress is to continue.
He said: “We are disappointed with the result. I don’t think we found our level of performance to give it a good go. The best side has gone through over the two legs. There’s a lot we can improve on moving forward and we have found a level tonight to strive for.
“Every day back on the training pitch we need to keep improving individually and collectively and hopefully one day we can get to that level because it’s a Champions League level.
“That’s what football is all about, keep striving to be better.
“I need to keep pushing the players that are here, I have added two more players to the group and we need to do that to give the players that are here help.
“The board and myself are on the same page, we understand we need to keep improving and give the players that are here help.
“The backing has been there for sure and I think we have earned that by what we have done in Europe, getting out the groups and we have done really well for the club. That works both ways. We are ambitious, hungry and we will pick the bones out of tonight because there were things that went wrong and come back stronger.”
Moussa Diaby’s goal shortly after the break sealed a 1-0 win for the Bundesliga giants and a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory.
Conor Goldson had Rangers’ best chance but his second half header was cleared off the line.
But the advances made in Europe in Gerrard’s two years at the helm – and only three years on from the Progres Niederkorn horror show under Pedro Caixinha – have been stark.
Rangers had beaten Porto, Feyenoord and Braga on their way to the last 16 clash with Leverkusen.
Gerrard said: “The players have given me everything they have got, really pushed themselves to the max and, at times, punched above their weight.
“It’s an amazing achievement to where we have got to. But we are Rangers and we need to keep striving for more.”