Skip to content

Steven Gerrard says his Rangers side had to be made to believe they could compete in Villarreal draw

Steven Gerrard's Rangers enjoyed an undefeated start to their Europa League campaign
Image: Steven Gerrard's Rangers earned a draw in Spain

Steven Gerrard said he urged his players to believe they belonged alongside Villarreal during their 2-2 draw in Spain on Thursday.

The Gers suffered a nightmare start to their Europa League campaign as Carlos Bacca put the hosts ahead with 45 seconds on the clock at El Madrigal.

Gerrard felt his side lacked the confidence to mix it with the La Liga side during a tepid first half but, after a half-time pep talk, Rangers showed they could compete.

Scott Arfield and Kyle Lafferty struck either side of Gerard Moreno's goal to hand Rangers a deserved draw in their Group G opener.

Gerrard said: "I'm very proud of my team, especially in the second half, which I felt was a very strong performance.

Kyle Lafferty grabbed his first ever goal in European competition to earn Rangers a draw.
Image: Kyle Lafferty grabbed his first goal in European competition to earn Rangers a point

"We obviously got off to the worst possible start, going a goal down inside the first minute. Sometimes in football you've got to hold your hand up and it was a wonderful strike from Carlos Bacca.

"The message at half-time was to show more belief and have more courage in our play by making passes.

Also See:

"I was concerned at half-time that we were going to have regrets after the game. When we won the ball back we never kept it well enough. We never had enough belief when we were getting into really good areas.

"We didn't really believe we could cause the opposition problems. But from half-time we went and did it and we could have scored a few more goals.

"It was a crazy end to the game - we could have won it through Scott Arfield and yet at the same time we could have lost it. But I think that would have been really harsh on us - we deserved a point tonight."

Play Super 6
Play Super 6

Jeff gave away £1.5m last month. Enter your predictions to be the next winner here.

Around Sky