‘Punching above weight if drawn with EPL side’
STEVEN Gerrard admits Rangers will be punching well above their weight if they land Premier League opposition in the draw for the Europa League today.
Rangers booked their place in the last 16 of the competition with a remarkable 9-5 aggregate win over Royal Antwerp and have now matched their achievement from Gerrard’s second campaign at Ibrox as they qualified from the group stages and progressed through the first knock-out round.
Victory against Braga at this stage last term landed Rangers a draw with German giants Bayer Leverkusen and the Bundesliga outfit proved too strong over a tie that was disrupted by the Coronavirus outbreak that brought a halt to football across the continent.
But Gerrard’s side can now look forward to the next stage with real confidence after a 5-2 win at Ibrox that saw Alfredo Morelos, Nathan Patterson, Ryan Kent, Borna Barisic and Cedric Itten find the target on another memorable night.
Rangers could land a mouth-watering Battle of Britain clash when the draw is made at lunchtime today and Gerrard is relishing the tie no matter who his side are paired with in Nyon.
Gerrard said: “It is not about thinking about how far we can go just now, it is about enjoying tonight and enjoying the performance. I am really pleased with the lads, the atmosphere in the dressing room is fantastic.
“We wanted to come into this game and not hang on and wait and hope, we wanted to play with bravery and be bold and really play on the front foot and we went out and done that.
“The draw will give us whatever it gives us. What we will do is look forward to it with excitement and we will look forward to both ties.
“Whoever you come up against in the last 16, it is going to be a big challenge, especially if you get one of those English teams because we would be punching well above our weight for sure.”
STEVEN GERRARD has urged Nathan Patterson to make the most of his Ibrox redemption after he helped Rangers reach the last 16 of the Europa League.
The right-back returned to Gerrard’s squad for the second leg of their clash with Royal Antwerp following a club investigation after he, Bongani Zungu and Calvin Bassey attended a house party that breached Covid protocols.
Patterson scored his first Rangers goal just 17 seconds after appearing as a half-time substitute as Rangers won 5-2 on the night to clinch their place in the next round.
Gerrard said: “I’m surprised that is your first question after a performance like that, but I will answer it anyway.
“Nathan was superb in terms of his football tonight, he came on with the right mentality and brought energy and physicality and obviously scored a wonderful goal. It was the reaction that he needed and that we needed for the team, more importantly. He has had a whirlwind week, along with the other two, and we are trying to draw a line under it.
“They have been punished internally and they have been spoken to internally. We hope that they all learn from that moving forward and the quicker we can move on the better.”
Patterson has become a significant part of Gerrard’s squad this term as he has provided back-up for captain James Tavernier but he would miss the first leg win in Belgium after being forced to isolate following his rules breach. The 19-year-old recently signed a new long-term contract at Ibrox and Gerrard hopes he can put a significant error of judgement behind him and realise his potential with Rangers.
Gerrard said: “It’s been quite a week and it should be the biggest learning curve of that boys career. He’s a fantastic kid and he comes from a lovely family. He needs to understand what the people top to bottom at this football club think of Nathan.
“He’s got an opportunity and he needs to learn from this and make sure it doesn’t happen again. He’s a wonderful footballer with a big future. As someone with four kids myself I want to be someone who gives people a second chance. I have made similar mistakes myself. I hope he takes on board what we have said to him this week.”