Michael Stewart praises Gerrard and backs Rangers to see off Slavia Prague
Michael Stewart has paid tribute to the work done by Steven Gerrard and has backed Rangers to beat Slavia Prague and reach the latter stages of the Europa League.
The Light Blues are one game away from the quarter-finals of Europe’s second-tier competition and a win would see the club go one further than last season’s attempt where they fell to Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16.
After claiming an away goal in a 1-1 draw in Prague the task is clear – keep a clean sheet and progress to the next round will be achieved.
And Stewarts has claimed that Rangers could get to the final four of the competition.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound [18:00, 18/03/21] before the game Stewart reflected on how far the club have come under Gerrard.
“Not only did he raise the bar in his first season, year on year there has been progress so to get to the stage now where they can get into the final eight is a wonderful achievement,” he said.
“All of us sitting here see Rangers completely capable of doing it, this wouldn’t be a fluke or a backs-against-the-wall or scraping through, Rangers are really capable of doing this and then once you get into the final eight depending on who you play against then it could be touch and go.
“But it’s not beyond the realms of possibilities that Rangers could be getting to the final four so you’ve got to talk about Progrès Niederkorn to give the balance and comparison of where they were to where they are now and it’s not a fluke where they are now, it’s a team that deserves to be in this position.”
From Progrès to huge progress
It’s good to hear Stewart offer some praise for once and he is right to point out just how far we have come under Gerrard with memories of Progrès Niederkorn now a distant memory.
A win tonight certainly would be no fluke and in fact, we now expect it.
Defeat to Slavia would be a huge disappointment after topping the group stage over Portuguese giants Benfica and it would almost signal a premature end to our season.
To go one better than last season would really signify there is real progress being made.
Slavia may not have the stature of Leverkusen but they are a dangerous side and after beating Leicester City their stock is incredibly high.
That is why a win would be so big – it will put us on the map even more and we will really stand out to the rest of Europe as a team to avoid.
In other Rangers news, Michael Owen predicts score v Slavia Prague.