Gerrard set sights on knockout rounds as victory over Portuguese giants edges Gers closer to European dream

ON the biggest night of Steven Gerrard’s managerial career, Rangers recorded the most impressive win of his Ibrox tenure.

A place in the Europa League knockout rounds is now firmly in their sights as the Ibrox boss continues to transform Rangers’ fortunes and restore their reputation.

The win over Legia Warsaw that saw Rangers qualify for Group G was dramatic, while the victory against Feyenoord was a statement of intent.

This triumph at home to Porto – earned through goals from Alfredo Morelos and Steven Davis – was the highest profile by some way, though.

Gerrard will do his best to ensure his players don’t get carried away by their impressive start to the campaign, but supporters have more belief in this side than any that has been at Ibrox for quite some time.

Wins like this only reaffirm that and Rangers – the fourth seeds in the section – could now top it as they look ahead to the trip to Feyenoord and visit of Young Boys with upmost faith in their abilities.

There was an air of confidence, of bullishness, about Gerrard when he conducted his pre-match media duties last night.

He fancied Rangers’ chances and so did the Ibrox crowd, but both parties needed those trusted with a jersey to play with the same swagger as they had done a fortnight ago.

It says much about the progress that Rangers have made under Gerrard that they could host

Porto and not be daunted by the challenge and the win was merited on the night. This side have come a long way in a short space of time but Gerrard and his staff are well aware of how much further they still have to go, both domestically and on the continent.

It was only natural that the Ibrox crowd would arrive here with a spring in their step. The air was cold and crisp but Gerrard needed the atmosphere to be red-hot to inspire the Light Blues.

A banner proclaiming “We fear no foe” accompanied the red, white and blue mosaic Tifo as the teams took to the park.

Ibrox was nervous yet expectant. Those jitters seemed to creep into the players in the opening stages and the performance levels didn’t rise as high as the decibels. Rangers wanted a quick start, but passes were misplaced and tackles missed as Porto looked more assured with the ball and without it.

Glen Kamara did brilliantly to hook a header from Pepe off the line after just eight minutes. His intervention was just in time as the midfielder ensured the sting wasn’t taken out of the crowd early on.

Ibrox breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and there was another let-off for Rangers when Francisco Soares headed wide of Allan McGregor’s left-hand post. The striker rose well above the Gers defence but his effort lacked direction and conviction.

The same could be said of Gerrard’s side for most of the first half. Brandon Barker offered little on the right, while the service to Morelos wasn’t quick or incisive enough and the Colombian soon became frustrated.

There was more coming from Ryan Kent and it was the £7 million man that had Rangers’ only real chance of the opening half-hour.

The build-up was neat but Kent’s strike rose over the bar as keeper Agustin Marchesin was untested.

The theme of “so near yet so far” continued until the break. By that stage, Rangers had grown into the encounter but were still left frustrated.

A strong challenge from Jack got the crowd on their feet but the subsequent cross from Kent was behind Morelos.

On the whistle, Davis found James Tavernier with a sliderule pass but Barker’s strike from the cut-back was high and wild.

Rangers had not been particularly poor, but they were not at their best and the performance in the first half hadn’t matched the occasion. That couldn’t continue, and it didn’t.

Another roar of encouragement greeted Gerrard’s side as they made their way back out after the break but one of celebration didn’t come before the hour mark.

It was Kent that was looking the most likely source of the opening goal for the Gers. His first effort of the half was wide of the far post after he cut in from the right, but his second forced Marchesin into a smart low save after he showed neat footwork to make space for himself at the edge of the area.

There was another warning for Rangers as Porto saw a second effort of the night cleared off the line.

A cross from the right fell to Wilson Manafa at the back but

Goldson was in the right place at the right time to deny the visitors.

Soon, Ibrox erupted and Morelos’ name was sung by the majority of the 49,000 strong crowd. The striker had his 21st of the season and Rangers had the lead thanks to a superb, clinical strike.

Morelos collected a cross from Jack and from inside the area found the bottom right corner of Marchesin’s net.

The left-foot finish was sweet, emphatic, and Gerrard greeted it with a series of fist pumps as Morelos ran to a crowd that adore him and was surrounded by teammates who were thankful for him once again.

Calm was never restored after that. Four minutes later, the advantage was doubled and the game was won as Davis fired a low shot from the edge of the area that was deflected beyond the despairing Marchesin.

Porto pressed and probed in search of inspiration and hope but the goal never came as their chances quickly faded.

The night was destined to belong to Rangers and to Gerrard. Another one like this and the European dream will be realised at Ibrox.

Looked short of confidence in first half but played major part in opening goal. A night that may get him back on track.

Distribution was poor in first half but did his job where it mattered by getting Luis Diaz’s effort off the line in the second. Improved thereafter.

Defended stoutly enough too when he had to.

Received a deserved booking for a hefty challenge on Otavio, but regrouped and was a steady presence at left-back.

Carried on recent brilliant form and got an assist to his name as he picked out Morelos for opener. Worked his socks off.

Battled away and gradually grew as an influence, culminating in his appearance at the edge of the area to slam in the second.

Did brilliantly to hook Pepe’s flick off the line early on, but that was his biggest contribution.

Struggled to make an impact. Put a brilliant opportunity over the bar, but his contribution to the game was limited.

Barely had a sniff in the opening 69 minutes, but what does that matter when you can produce a finish like he did on the 70th? Took a low ball from Jack on his right and rifled an arrow of a shot into the bottom corner with his left. Brilliant.

Looked bright but lacked killer touch. But never gave up as he took another step back to full sharpness.

IMAGINE the scene. A group of balaclava-wearing black-clad Lazio fans are marching through the streets of Glasgow in broad daylight performing Nazi salutes. Actually, you don’t have to. It actually happened. Imagine now, though, that two of them are stabbed.

Who is to blame?

It is almost impossible to think of a more offensive sight on the streets of our biggest city. And yet, would you be pointing the finger at the extreme lunatic fringe of the Italian side’s support? Had they brought it on themselves? Or would you be damning those who attacked them?

Now imagine this scenario. A group of Celtic fans are enjoying a drink in a bar in Rome. Some hooded cowards make their way into the crowd and stab two of them before fleeing the scene. Who is to blame? Had they brought it on themselves? If your first instinct is to say yes, then I would suggest club allegiances are blunting your faculties.

Let’s be clear, the Green Brigade are no saints. Nor would they claim to be. But are we really saying that if a section of Celtic fans display banners calling out the fascist element of the Lazio support, and telling them to f*** off, then the 9000 or so Celtic supporters who travelled to Rome were fair game for a stabbing?

Perhaps conflating an entirely justified message of “f*** fascism” with the more general “f*** Lazio” is unfair to huge swathes of Lazio’s support, but does that mean the two Celtic fans who were stabbed brought it on themselves for daring to be associated with the supporters who sang it? Gie’s peace. The responsibility lies with the brain-dead morons who do the stabbing, no-one else.

Any cursory knowledge of the experience of visiting fans in Rome would tell you that, at best, there is very little evidence to support the theory that the Green Brigade had placed their fellow fans in the crosshairs, or any increased level of threat at all, by antagonising those precious neo-Nazi lambs of the Lazio fringe.

Instead, there is plenty of evidence to suggest this is a cultural problem in the city itself, with other large groups of fans who have gone there in the past decade experiencing a similar form of violence against them.

Rome is an incredible place, and the vast majority of Celtic supporters who visited no doubt had a great time. There is a danger of blowing this all out of proportion and smearing a whole city in the same way we tend to smear whole groups of supporters by the actions of a small few. Such is the age of social media.

The injuries suffered by the victims in this case appear to be relatively minor according to reports, but there is no doubt they are part of a larger pattern that points to the motivation behind the attacks being about more than the mere sight of green and white hoops.

When Sevilla visited the city in January of this year, four people were stabbed. Fans of Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have also been stabbed there in the past when following their teams.

And that is a crucial point.

For the most part, these are just ordinary guys following their teams. There are few better experiences than taking a trip with your team on the continent, meeting up with fellow fans in some city square in a foreign country, having a few drinks and cheering on your team in European competition.

Incidents like this only serve to discourage people from doing so in the future, and that affects all of our teams and supporters. We should be asking what is being done to protect our fans on foreign soil, and be outraged at their treatment, rather than indulging in petty and parochial point-scoring or victim-blaming.

WHILE Craig Brown was Scotland manager, he said he would rather have a willing volunteer than a reluctant conscript. That didn’t stop him throwing the book at club managers like Howard Wilkinson and Dick Advocaat when they pulled players out of international squads, mind you.

It’s an age-old problem, as Steve Clarke is now finding out.

The unwillingness of Arsenal to release Kieran Tierney, despite his recent track record with injury, is concerning.

Tierney is no doubt frustrated too, given he has yet to play under Clarke and his first chance to do so will now be the March play-off matches – hardly ideal when the manager is trying to figure out a way to accommodate both Tierney and Andy Robertson.

Clarke knows a need for diplomacy comes with the territory, but if Arsenal continue to treat international breaks as a chance for their players to rest and recuperate, he might be forced to take a leaf from Brown’s rule-book.