‘ Draw reaction shows how far we’ve come’
RANGERS returned from Portugal with pain and a point. It was important to emphasise the perspective.
The draw with Benfica on Thursday night may have felt like a defeat, but that perhaps sums up just how much progress Steven Gerrard’s side have made this season.
The manner of the final result – as Rangers conceded twice against ten men in the final minutes – certainly hurt Gerrard and his players.
But sitting with seven points from three Group D encounters can never be downplayed as an achievement for Rangers.
Gerrard said: “When the dust settles and people really analyse where we are, they will realise how much we’ve done and how far we have progressed. We’re certainly in a far better place.
“But you can’t blame people for feeling a bit down and a bit stung at the moment. I feel the same, the players feel the same. But I will pick myself up and so will the players.
“We have to keep moving forward. It’s another point closer to where we want to be. The challenge for us when the group was made was could we get ourselves into the last 32 for a second time.
“We have made a very strong start, but we need to learn from our mistakes.
“When we get ourselves into that sort of position, and I mean going 3- 1 in front against ten men, we have to show the opposition more respect, especially at this level.
“A game is not done it’s never won until the whistle.
“We all need to take responsibility from the fact we didn’t return from Portugal with all three points.”
The mistakes from Rangers were uncharacteristic but certainly costly as a Connor Goldson own goal and strikes from Rafa Silva and Darwen Nunez denied them a famous victory in Lisbon.
This was the most ragged the Rangers defence had looked all season but Gerrard won’t go overboard in his reaction and analysis.
Gerrard said: “We’ve had a lot of praise but that’s because and final we’ve gone out and done our jobs properly in the majority of the games we’ve played.
“We’ve been professional, shown fantastic game management and good order on the pitch. I just thought at times at 3- 1 we just lost control of the game and we lost that order. We took unnecessary risks and positionally we needed to be a whole lot better.
“For sure, we can’t all of a sudden start pointing fingers and think all is lost. We are still unbeaten, we are still on this run, but I get that we should still be talking about a huge win and a massive European performance.
“Unfortunately we are talking about a draw but when the dust settles I’m sure people will realise it’s a positive point.”
There were certainly plenty of plus points for Gerrard to take at the Estadio da Luz.
And the performance of midfielder Steven Davis was one of them for the Ibrox boss.
Gerrard said: “We were happy with the players, obviously we have made some individual mistakes in the game.
“I was looking for my leaders during the match to bring some more order and control, we needed to manage the game better. Steven is part of that as well. But listen, some of his play on Thursday night was outstanding.
“But he is stung like everyone else.”