Europa League
Gerrard excited for fresh tussle with rival Stam
STEVEN GERRARD will renew an old rivalry as Jaap Stam brings Feyenoord to Ibrox for the commencement of the Europa League group stage. Already long-established foes from the Liverpool-Manchester United fixture, the pair last locked horns on a certain night in Istanbul.
The 2005 Champions League Final came to define Gerrard’s playing career and must remain a huge source of regret for Stam, by that stage part of an AC Milan defence that ranks among the very best units ever assembled.
Three goals up by half-time, a back four of Stam, Alessandro Nesta, Cafu and the regal Paolo Maldini should have been bankers to see the match out but Gerrard had other ideas, darting between the two centre-backs and executing a looping header that inspired one of sport’s great comebacks.
The mention of it all brings a glint to Gerrard’s eye. ‘I remember the battle,’ he smiles. ‘He was some player. Top drawer. You don’t play for Manchester United and have that success, get a move to AC Milan and play in European Cup finals if you are not top level.
‘He was a centre-back that had the lot. He was good in the air, could play on the floor and it was very difficult to get past him one-v-one. Thankfully he switched off against me for one second! But it wasn’t just his fault. I’m sure he’s blaming Nesta as well…’
The difference this time is that the Rangers manager knows it will take more than a momentary lapse in concentration to get the better of Stam.
Installed as the successor to former Rangers star Giovanni van Bronckhorst at the end of last season, Stam is now on his third managerial job, most recently with Eredivisie club PEC Zwolle.
Before that, he cut his teeth with Reading where he spent two years from 2016, leading the English Championship club to the play-offs in his first season. Gerrard was paying attention. ‘I’ve never come across Jaap in social circles but I watched his Reading team quite a bit, so I have a good idea how he wants his teams to play,’ he continued. ‘His Reading team liked to play from the back, so they open up, home and away. He’s not the type of manager who will go front to back really early unless he tries to pull something quite different against us.
‘He’s schooled in the typical Dutch way where they like to dominate the ball and possession, they try to overload you in certain areas of the pitch. Whether he’ll come here to Ibrox and try that will be interesting for us all to see but he’s definitely someone who likes to play on the floor.
‘It will be a good test. They are an athletic team — young, fresh and full of energy. But, like any other side, they have a few flaws too and we’ll try to exploit those and control their strengths.’ Stam (left) isn’t the only member of the Feyenoord technical staff to whom Gerrard has a connection. Dirk Kuyt (right) played alongside him at Anfield for six years and is now back at the De Kuip, where he took up a post coaching the club’s Under-19 team last year. The pair remain close and Gerrard made a point of travelling to Rotterdam to take part in Kuyt’s testimonial just days before his own official start date as Rangers manager in May 2018.
‘Dirk’s a really close friend of mine,’ continued Gerrard. ‘We had a fantastic time at Liverpool and he’s the one of the people in the game that you want to stay in touch with.
‘He was not just a great player but a top character, great to have in the dressing room. Everyone loved Dirk, so when I got the invite to play in his testimonial I couldn’t wait to get there and support him and his family. ‘We played in front of a full house in a fantastic stadium and, funny enough, we get them in the draw and I’m going back there in a short time. ‘Dirk used to run the most, the most high speed, the most distance. He’d run for the sake of it sometimes. He was the typical Duracell Bunny type but he was an absolute master of being in the right place at the right time for important goals. If you look
back over his Liverpool goals, they were always big equalisers or winners late on.
‘He played in a World Cup Final too — what a career and credit to him. One day I would love to pit my wits against him, of course — I wish he was next to me on Thursday night. I hope he comes over.
‘If not, I hope to bump into when we go over to Feyenoord.
‘Both players I have huge respect for but it’s crazy the way that one minute you’re on a football pitch with them and the next minute you’re arguing with them on the side of a pitch over your own players.’
The Kuyt and Stam subplots help explain why Gerrard was so attracted to becoming Rangers manager in the first place.
He acknowledges his good fortune at being given his chance to cut his teeth in a job that gives him access to the continental scene but equally is entitled to say that he and his players have fully earned this crack at the group stage following another gruelling set of qualifiers.
There are some Rangers fans who would dispose of the European dimension in order to mount a stronger domestic barrier to Celtic’s pursuit of nine in a row, but Gerrard has repeatedly stated that he takes a much broader view.
‘I love it,’ he enthuses. ‘Europe’s the pinnacle. This is a fantastic experience for me as a manager, to have two European runs in the first 14 months here.
‘These are the nights the fans want. These are the nights I want to coach in and I know the players have worked ever so hard to get this opportunity. The experienced ones like Steven Davis and Jermain Defoe will be desperate to be in the starting XI against Feyenoord too. This is what we all signed up for.
‘So let’s go and enjoy it, as well as giving it everything we’ve got.’
For those who care for coincidence, Rangers have been drawn in Group G for the second year in a row but Gerrard believes this season’s opposition is generally of a higher standard.
The next few weeks should back up his assertion that Feyenoord, Young Boys and Porto present a stiffer test than that posed by Villarreal, Spartak Moscow and Rapid Vienna but there are question marks over the Dutch side.
There was no shame in finishing behind Champions League semifinalists Ajax in last season’s Eredivisie standings but an 18-point gap to runners-up PSV was not indicative of a vintage season.
Under Stam they have made an unbeaten start to the new league campaign but have drawn three out of their first four fixtures.
If the jury is out on Feyenoord, Gerrard insists Rangers have improved over the summer.
He added: ‘Of course we are the underdogs in the group, we have to realise where we are as a club, but at the same time we are not going to just roll over and finish bottom of this group with zero points — that’s not going to happen.
‘There will be a full house here on Thursday, there will be a roar at kick-off and an expectation for us to go and compete and get the right result.
‘That’s the reason why I’ve tried to get a squad capable to compete on both fronts.
‘I’d say Villarreal are definitely in Feyenoord’s league if not better but this group, as a whole, is more difficult than last year’s. We’re better as well.
‘I think it would be a special achievement to get out of the group and reach the knockout round.
‘To come from where we were as a club, to progress and get out of the calibre of group we’re in — it would be a fantastic achievement.’
‘HE WAS SO GOOD IN THE AIR. BUT IT WASN’T JUST HIS FAULT. I’M SURE HE’S STILL BLAMING NESTA!’