WE’RE NO MATCH FOR CLASS OF ‘92
GERRARD ON EURO BID BACK PAGE
STEVEN GERRARD last night insisted his Rangers do not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the club’s 1992-93 Champions League heroes.
The Ibrox team can make history tonight against Spartak Moscow in their Europa League showdown at Ibrox. If the hosts avoid defeat they will make it 11 successive matches unbeaten in continental competition in a single season to eclipse the record of 10 set by Walter Smith’s legends.
However, Gerrard is paying no attention to potential landmarks
and says his troops can’t be bracketed alongside such stalwarts of the past.
He said: “We’re not ready to be spoken about in the same breath as successful teams in the past.
“We are nowhere near ready to be put on a par with teams like that. We have a long way to go.
“We are on the back of a nice run in Europe. We need to protect that and try to extend it for as long as possible.
“But in terms of putting us back alongside teams of 10 or 20 years ago then we’re not ready for that yet.
“I wasn’t aware of the stat. It’s news to me which tells you it’s certainly not my main focus. Milestones like that are always nice but it’s not our focus.”
Gerrard’s concentration is fixed firmly on Spartak and “jumping on” current upheaval at the Russians.
The Muscovites sacked manager Massimo Carrera at the beginning of the week having slumped to seventh in their league and fitness coach Raul Riancho will be in charge against Rangers.
Gerrard believes now could be the time to strike and said: “That’s the plan. Spartak in the next few weeks will improve.
“They will have more confidence with getting a fresh start as a new manager. So we need to try to jump on them now when maybe they are not ready and set, when they probably only had 48 hours to prepare for us.
“We are underdogs on paper but, in our dressing room, we will go in with confidence and belief.
“Rapid beat them in the opening match so it’s a very difficult one to judge.
“For my money, they are around the same level as Villarreal. I don’t think there’s much between all the teams, to be honest.
“It’s a tight group but we do expect a reaction in relation to their current form. When a new manager comes in you always get a reaction, an immediate one. But we will be ready for that.”
Spartak were in turmoil for several weeks before Carrera was axed with two key men dropped for that opening game against Rapid following a social-media storm.
Captain Denis Glushakov and defender Andrei Yeshchenko were accused of pressing the “like” button on an Instagram video of Russian actor Dmitry Nazarov mocking the now-sacked manager.
Gerrard smiled when asked how he’d respond to such behaviour.
And he added: “Well, my door at the training ground is open every day for the players to come in and criticise me. As long as that criticism is constructive, I’d be fine.
“I don’t think it is a wise move to go on social media and criticise your boss in any job. You need to show your boss respect.
“You’d normally get more positive feedback from your boss if you were more positive than negative on social media!”