Going further than Celtic has in recent years and in the process improving the country coefficient.
Steven Gerrard & Rangers
- Thread starter King Binny
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That’s a strange one.
So that more Scottish teams can experience the delight of reciting European football at the first attempt.
Who knows? As it is, Celtic has been diabolical in the recent years.
And that has been immensely entertaining (for the record i detest Celtic equally as much as Rangers).
[article]Rangers have reached the last 32 of the Europa League for the second successive season and manager Steven Gerrard's European stats continue to impress.
It was his 22nd European win in his third campaign as manager - equalling the mark set by Ibrox predecessor Dick Advocaat and one short of Walter Smith's tally.
Here, BBC Scotland looks at how the former England captain has propelled himself into the realms of the club's most successful European managers.
Gerrard's most notable successes have come against Portuguese opposition.
Braga and Porto last season, and Benfica this term, could not get the better of Rangers, though the Ibrox side twice lost two-goal leads to draw home and away with the latter this term.
Feyenoord were beaten at Ibrox last year before Rangers claimed a draw in Rotterdam against the Dutch. And this season, the Scots won home and away against Belgians Standard Liege and Lech Poznan of Poland.
"To be at this level now and beating teams shows the big steps we have taken as a group," Gerrard said after Thursday's 2-0 win over Poznan.
"The challenge now is can we keep building on it? This is the best I have felt in terms of our squad strength and I do have confidence in the 24 or 25 players that we have got."
Prior to 2019, the club had not won two home games in a group stage campaign in either the Champions or Europa League. But that stat ended last season and was emulated this time round.
This season was also Rangers' first unbeaten group campaign in either competition since 1992-93.
Rangers have lost three group games in three years under Gerrard and won or drawn every one of their qualifying matches since 2018.
In total, Gerrard's Rangers have come through 11 qualifying ties over the past three seasons, including eight two-legged ties and three one-off games in this season's Covid-19 affected competition.
Those draws and wins no doubt boost the manager's overall stats in Europe, and the likes of Walter Smith, Dick Advocaat, Graeme Souness and Alex McLeish had fewer qualifying rounds to contend with.
But given Rangers were knocked out by Luxembourg's Progres Niederkorn the year before Gerrard arrived, navigating those matches were not a given.
And Gerrard's team have not been embarrassed in Europe. Of their five defeats over the past three years, four have been away from home by a single goal, with the 3-1 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen the only exception.
"I think it is a huge achievement to win the group and it is thoroughly deserved," the manager added.
"Going on our performances over the six games, we deserve to be in the number one position and with a bit more experience we could have won the six games."
Former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart on Sportsound
With a performance that wasn't scintillating, they still comfortably beat Lech Poznan, scored two goals and kept a clean sheet. You can't ask too much more. They're so efficient and clinical and it's a wonderful trait to have.
Former Rangers winger Neil McCann on Sportsound
They're creating a fear factor now. They're a really intimidating side to play in how they function. They don't change. They say, 'right, this is how we play, you know how we play, can you deal with it?' And so far, they've not been able to be stopped.[/article]
Yes. He could have been forgiven for practically ignoring Europe and concentrating on the league, given recent history, but to his credit he's really gone for both (arguably to his detriment, in past seasons, given the team's tendency to fall away as Celtic went on). This year it seems he's got a strong enough squad to keep going.
"We don't let this slip... ..."
Not taking anything away from Stevie but that table made me lol
You mean it's just like us last season
Didn't they have a game or two postponed due to Covid? Also the Scottish LC which Rangers were knocked out in.
Finding some consolation from Gerrard's Rangers.
It’s in Europe where the difference can be seen.
I think it's domestically too. I lived in Scotland last year and it's nuts. Celtic have a higher wage bill than the rest of the league put together. He's fully moneyballed it. I thought he couldn't win up there, there was no chance of beating Celtic and anything else was failure. That mixed with his personality and I thought this is fucked. But again I was mad wrong. If he wins the league this year, along with the European run, he's a very good football manager
What's wrong with his personality? He seems obsessed with being the best at what he does and puts the work in to do it. Other managers lose games and deflect it with stupid coping mechanisms like looking to the next game, which they lose, then the next next game is suddenly the important one. Gerrard has that vindictive streak in him, you can tell after their fuck ups last season he stuck his boot on the throats of the players and made them pay for it. That's a brilliant personality trait for a manager.
He fucked my mate's bird and ruined their marriage. He was also one of his best mates. It was all a bit Ryan Giggs. There's more but I don't wanna go into it. I don't like the man. He's good at what he does
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