STEVEN GERRARD knows he wouldn’t have got the chance to become Rangers boss had Progres Niederkorn not made European history two years ago.
So he will take nothing for granted over the next fortnight as the Light Blues prepare for a rematch with their former foes.
Defeat in Luxembourg was the beginning of the end for Pedro Caixinha in Glasgow but that result is now a thing of the past as Rangers have made significant strides forward with Gerrard at the helm.
Gerrard said: “I arrived here probably because of that second leg night. I know it took until October for Caixinha to eventually leave, but Graeme Murty got the caretaker role on the back of that and then I obviously got the role.
READ MORE: Rangers v Progres | TV times, kick-off, odds and team news
“But it all goes back to those two fixtures. So it goes to show the importance of the game – and St Joseph’s before.
“It doesn’t matter who you are playing, you have to try and get through. It’s important we don’t live in the past but we still need to have that seed there because we are now responsible for taking this club forward.
“It’s important that we try and put a big wrong right over these next two legs.”
Rangers were 1-0 winners at Ibrox in 2017 before crashing to a humiliating defeat away in the second leg that saw them dumped from the competition.
The likes of Wes Foderingham, James Tavernier and Alfredo Morelos remain from that night.
And Gerrard won’t allow his players to underestimate the challenge in hand as they bid for a third qualifying round berth.
He said: “The players won’t need a reminder of the attitude and mentality they need to get this job done. And we want it done as soon as possible.
“I want a very aggressive team performance.
READ MORE: Jermain Defoe: I wish I could have joined Rangers three years ago
“The important thing here is our approach. It’s about us and what we do. We have spoken to the players in detail about how we want it to look at Ibrox, no matter who we are facing.
“We want that consistent respect for opposition and they will get that.
“At this level in Europe, it has been proven many times – not just the episode a couple of years ago – that if you underestimate the opposition you can come unstuck.
“That’s the message at the start but also if we manage to go 1-0 or are good enough to go 2-0. We stay on the gas for as long as we can to try and get it done and show them we are a completely different set-up with a completely different mentality.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here