Gerrard’s pride in his players

RANGERS manager Steven Gerrard admitted he wanted to “bottle” their performance in Porto and ensure they keep serving it up after his side fought back to claim a thoroughlydeserved Europa League point.

The 1-1 draw leaves Rangers tied with Porto on four points, two behind group leaders Young Boys, with two of their final three games at Ibrox.

“I’m very proud of the players,” Gerrard said. “The performance was outstanding. We at least deserved to take a point.

“I thought our structure and organisation was brilliant, so I need to pay respect to all my staff who have worked so hard to do that this week.

“But even more so to the players because they have gone out, they have all maxed out, in and out of possession, and carried out the game plan really well.

“That’s the level we need to try and bottle, certainly if we want to get out of this group. That performance gets us something in Feyenoord if we can match that, and the home games will be very important.

“I think that was our best performance in Europe for large parts. If we can find that consistently we’ll push this group right to the wire.

“Maybe if Alfredo scored the header and we won 2-1 then for sure it would be the best but I don’t want to be sitting here as Rangers manager saying it’s our best performance when we have only taken a point. Because we have to remember we are Rangers and we came here to try and win the game.”

Gerrard added: “I could mention all my players, I thought Filip Helander arrived tonight. He showed the reason why we have so much faith in him and paid the money we did for him.

“It was a performance full of composure and experience.”