Celtic defeat is a warning - Gerrard
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard maintains Celtic’s Champions League elimination at home to Cluj on Tuesday ought to caution his team against regarding their Europa League tie against FC Midtjylland tonight as a formality.
The Ibrox side appear in an unassailable position ahead of tonight’s home return of their third-round qualifier after posting a 4-2 victory in Denmark last week. Celtic’s concession of four goals in a home European tie for only the third time in 59 years’ participation in continental competition saw them crash out of club football’s blue-riband tournament, and led Gerrard to posit that “it would be very naive of us to take our foot off the pedal thinking it’s done”.
“I think what it [Celtic’s 4-3 defeat – a 5-4 aggregate loss] emphasised is that sometimes these clubs, whether in the Europa or Champions League, come and do well,” the Rangers manager said. “You get drawn against them and people think it’s a gimme because they haven’t got this European recognition. But FC Cluj showed over the two games that they were a right handful and a big threat and Midtjylland are the same.
“We came off the gas for five or six minutes and they scored two goals against us [in the first leg]. I think you have to respect everyone you come up against and give it your full attention — otherwise you can come unstuck.
“I think it goes across the board in any competition we’re in. I’ve said it before, we’re not at a stage where we can pick and choose when we want to play and who we want to respect.
“We’ve achieved nothing together — and if we are going to achieve something together we have to be at it every sin