Now Gers ace Andy wants knockout success

SCOTT McDERMOTT IN AUSTRIA

“That shows how excited they are. There are 10,000 coming over and I think I’ve had 10,000 requests for tickets.

“I was still getting texts on Wednesday morning but I had to turn my phone off.

“I’ve told them they’ll need to try to get them on the streets like everyone else.

“But it’s a special occasion, it is what you expect.

“After the support we took to Leipzig for a friendly a few years ago I thought there are simply no boundaries in terms of what Rangers fans will do to see their team.

“The hunger to be at these games has built up over a few years now.

“It’s a massive game, the type we’ve not had for a sport@dailyrecord.co.uk number of years. So it’s understandable the fans are looking forward to it.”

Gerrard’s players need to produce a winning performance in Vienna tonight and not just because it will see them progress further in the competition.

After going top of the Premiership with victory over Hearts just 11 days ago they let themselves down against Aberdeen and Dundee. They were criticised by their gaffer and Halliday agrees it’s been well below par.

Now he says Gerrard deserves a big performance from them against Rapid that should get them back on track.

He said: “We owe the manager a performance after the last two games.

“To put ourselves in the position we did – to be in the position we’re in now – it shows how quickly football can change.

“But as quickly as it can change for the worse, it can just as quickly change again for the better.

“We know that we’re 90 minutes away from achieving something very special here.

“And we owe the manager that because the last two performances haven’t been good enough.

“We are frustrated the standards have dropped because we have shown how good we can be this season. Unfortunately, we’ve also shown our ugly side, in terms of how poor we can be as well.

“That’s disappointing because chances don’t come along too often when you’re going for titles.

“So we’ve got to realise it’ll take more hard work to put ourselves back in the position we were in.

“If we get that chance again we have to try to stay there.

“The home game against