STEVEN Gerrard has admitted Rangers squandered a gilt-edged chance to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Europa League against Rapid Vienna on Thursday night.
And the former Champions League winner revealed he will spend the coming days analysing where his team could have performed better and how they can improve next season.
The Ibrox club lost 1-0 to their Austrian rivals in the Allianz Stadium to miss out on a place in the last 32 of the competition.
Gerrard stressed he was proud with how his charges, who came through four qualifying rounds to reach the group stages, had performed on the continent in the last five months.
But the 38-year-old wants Rangers to do even better in Europe during the 2019/20 campaign and is already assessing how they can achieve that.
“On the flight home my mind switched immediately to the Hamilton game (at Ibrox tomorrow),” he said. “I will definitely have a look back though. When I reflect sitting here just now it’s mixed emotions.
“I am extremely proud of the players and what they achieved, but I can’t help thinking it was a bit of a missed opportunity as well.
“I think the players gave a really good account of themselves throughout the entire European journey. We fell a little bit short on Thursday night, as everyone knows.
“But sitting here I can’t ask my players to give me anymore. Right from Shkupi, through four qualifying rounds and into the group stages they gave me everything.
“I think we have given an incredible account of ourselves and undoubtedly brought a bit of pride back to Rangers from a European point of view.
“Everyone knows it was a horror story 12 months ago (Rangers lost to Luxembourgian part-timers Progres Niederkorn) and it was our job to get some pride back and I think we have done that.”
Gerrard added: “The reality, however, is that we came up short and it’s my job to analyse why.
“I don’t think we lost out because of Thursday night. You have to go back to the 4-3 game in Moscow. The goal we scored should have been allowed, but defensively we weren’t good enough.
“And in the home games against Moscow and Villarreal when the match was in the balance we didn’t really have that cutting edge or quality to break them down and get maximum points.
“But what this has done has given me unbelievable confidence to come again. Hopefully if we get the chance to go on another European run next season we will be in a much better place.”
Gerrard admitted the backing that he and his players received from the Rangers fans – an estimate 10,000 of whom were in Vienna - on their 14 game European run had left them itching to get back involved.
“The players are well aware of the support they have had and it has whetted my appetite and theirs to go again,” he said.
“When we pulled up at the stadium on Thursday night all we could see was Rangers fans, there were thousands and thousands marching into the stadium.
“All the new players who maybe weren’t educated on Rangers when they arrived certainly are now.
“They know how big this is and what it means to the supporters. They have to learn and grown and come again.
“From my point of view I have loved it because it took me back to my own European days as a player with Liverpool.
“The support, being on the road and being faced with the challenges of playing against Europe’s elite. That’s what I love and that’s what the players should love.”
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