STEVEN GERRARD reckons the Europa League has helped him become a better boss as he looks to guide his side into the knockout rounds once again.
Rangers will qualify for the last 32 with victory over Standard Liege tonight and could still top Group D this term.
Gerrard's side excelled on the continent during his first two seasons and the 40-year-old is targeting another significant step forward this time out.
Gerrard said: “It’s done a lot. I feel I am more educated, I feel I am a better coach for my experiences over the last couple of years.
“But it’s not about me and my own development. It’s about Rangers, the team’s progression and the evolution of this football club. It’s about getting close to where we need to get to and we all know that’s success.
“In reality in Europe we’re not going to be the favourites to win this competition but the progression is there for all to see and that’s something we need to continue to grow.
“That comes with financial gains and putting the club in a better position. But to answer your question, I do feel as though I have learned a lot.”
Rangers should have taken more than two points from their double-header with Benfica as late goals proved costly at the Estádio da Luz and Ibrox.
But they have shown they can mix it with the best at this level as they now look to clinch qualification with a game to spare this term.
“I suppose there’s an element of potential, I still would describe us as favourites or anything like that," Gerrard said when asked about Rangers' chances of a prolonged run. “We need to stay quiet on that and just keep doing what we’ve been doing.
“We’ve got ourselves into a position where two really strong performances to finish could see us top the group which is probably unrealistic considering we were in the third pot.
“You need a bit of luck along the way and consider it will get parked up until February so let’s see what happens in the window.
“There’s a lot of aspects you’d need to go in your favour to ensure progression to the latter stages. No one is even thinking about right now. The main focus is trying to ensure qualification.”
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