STEVEN GERRARD reckons the performances of Connor Goldson and Filip Helander were the main positives to take from the defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.

Rangers saw their Europa League run ended in Germany on Thursday night as the Bundesliga giants followed up their 3-1 first leg win with a comfortable 1-0 victory.

Helander made his first appearance since November as he returned to the starting line-up, while youngster Nathan Patterson got a run-out in the closing minutes.

“There was a stage in the game when I knew it was impossible to get through,” Gerrard told RangersTV.

“So it was about offloading people for the weekend and also giving the kid (Patterson) an experience because hopefully one day he is going to be playing and competing at this level for many years.

“One positive I can take from [Thursday night] was the two centre-backs. I thought Fil got a load of amazing blocks in and really kept them at bay at times.

“And I thought Connor played like a European player. I thought he was outstanding.”