GERS RAP UP EUROPA WIN
Stevie: Best yet in record run
STEVEN GERRARD last night hailed the best Rangers performance in his time at Ibrox as his side made it 10 European games unbeaten with a comeback victory over Rapid Vienna. James Tavernier’s late penalty came between
an Alfredo Morelos double as Gerrard’s men recovered from the loss of the first goal to go 10 Euro ties without defeat and surge to the top of Europa League Group G.
And the Ibrox gaffer is adamant last night’s win was the best of them all.
Gerrard said: “Our supporters’ performance brought the best out of the players and my players’ performance brought the best out of the fans.
“It was an incredible night. Every single player to a man was outstanding all over the pitch. That’s the level of performance I’ve been looking for since I came in. That’s a Rangers performance of old, a successful Rangers performance.
“The challenge for us now is can we find it more consistently? That’s the best 90 minutes we’ve given and we have beaten a very good team.
“I felt for the players going 1-0 down. There was a blatant foul in the buildup and it was offside.
“The impressive thing was the players didn’t feel sorry for themselves. They showed character, scored a fantastic goal. The least we deserved was to go in level at the break. It would have been an injustice if we’d gone in 1-0 down.”
Gerrard has consistently stood by Morelos, despite the Colombian’s occasional disciplinary issues, and last night he was rewarded with a superb display.
The Ibrox boss added: “He was excellent, a handful all night. Out of possession he ran his socks off. He was a great focal point for us.
“At this level you don’t get as many chances as we maybe create domestically because of the level of the opponents. When he did get his opportunities he was clinical.
“Andy Halliday was telling him it was a good job he scored the second, because Andy was in for a tap-in! But that’s the confidence of where he is and the reason he is in the
frame for Colombia now at international level.
“If I see a paper tomorrow and one of my players has less than an eight I’ll be asking questions! Please be fair on them.
“I’ve been saying to the players, ‘When are we going to get 90 minutes and everyone at it all over the pitch?’ We got that.”
Gerrard admitted he is still getting his head round how his players could have produced last night’s performance so soon after playing abysmally at Livingston on Sunday.
He said: “The only thing in my mind from the final whistle is wondering how there can be that contrast. It’s night and day from Livingston.
“Livingston wasn’t Rangers – players underperforming, not fancying it, not thinking it’s a big game. Then you get players coming here thinking, ‘Europa League, a full house at home, I fancy this’. If you want to be successful you can’t do that.”
Rangers top their group after two games but while Gerrard is refusing to get carried away, he knows his team has given themselves a chance.
He added: “I said before the Villarreal game that we have a belief in the dressing room and a confidence. It’s not an over-confidence or an arrogance.
“But we’re on a decent journey in Europe and we have that belief that we can defend well. We have got players that when they do believe can score goals.
“But it’s important to calm expectations. We’ve got four points. Yeah we’re top of the group but we’ve achieved nothing so far.”