FIL RULED OUT FOR3MONTHS
Helander being ruled out for more than three months after being stretchered off in Saturday’s 2-1 win away to St Johnstone.
Gerrard admits losing the Swede is a major blow but he’s backed his group to take the hit.
He said: “Fil’s had surgery in the last 48 hours to fix an issue they spotted when they went inside to have a look. He’ll be missing for the foreseeable future.
“I’ve not spoken to him post surgery yet because it happened in the last 24 hours and he’s still trying to get himself together. I will be speaking to him in the near future.
“He’s a big player for us, he’s always been consistent, so he will be a miss and a loss. But it’s the reason we have four centre-backs.
“It’s difficult to say how long he’ll be out for but he’ll certainly be missing for at least a few months.”
Katic has been farmed out to Hajduk Split to rebuild his fitness after a long lay-off but can’t be hauled back until January.
Gerrard said: “Even if I had the opportunity to bring Niko back, I wouldn’t. It would be very selfish from me.
“Niko’s at a stage where he needs to play regularly to get back to his level and he’s in the right place.
“I’m confident we’ve got the right amount of cover, assuming we don’t have any more issues. Goldson comes back and is available.
“We’ve also got players who can fill in if needs be.
“At the moment, it’s disappointing not to have Fil but we’ll manage.”
Keeper Allan McGregor is also back after sitting out the win in Perth and Gerrard admits he will need all his key men firing against Lyon.
The group’s top seeds arrived in Glasgow without injured frontman Moussa Dembele but they’ll still provide a formidable test in the ex-Celt’s absence.
The Ligue 1 outfit are finding their feet under new boss Peter Bosz – who was in charge of the Bayer Leverkusen side that beat
Gers in the Europa League last 16 two seasons ago.
Gerrard said: “When a new manager comes into a team, it takes time to build a system and a way of playing. It takes time for players and manager to get used to each other.
“Lyon have high-level players, they’re a big club.
“They should be in the Champions League and have a very experienced manager. We’re under no illusions about how tough this game is and we’ve got big respect for the team.
“I don’t get involved on whether Lyon are going to be weaker or stronger because they’ve got players capable of coming in.
“They’ve got talent all over the pitch, especially in the front four, so it would be naive to think Lyon were going to be weaker because of one person.”
Beyond tonight, Gerrard has revealed Rangers may be able to drag Ianis Hagi out of quarantine quicker than first feared.
There were initial fears the attacker could face up to three weeks in North Macedonia after catching Covid on international duty with Romania.
But he’s back in Bucharest and could return to the UK with restrictions altered.
Gerrard added: “We’re having conversations to try to get him back as soon as possible. With the news of the decision the Scottish Government have made over the past 24 hours to allow (Lyon) players in who have been in red countries, we’ll try to get Ianis back as soon as possible.
“There are conversations going as we speak but unfortunately it’s out of my control. I don’t have a day or an exact time he’ll be here but I need him back as soon as possible.”