Gerrard: Rangers can dream of Europa League final

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard believes his side will have to produce their best to get past Slavia Prague in the Europa Legaue – but sees nothing wrong with dreaming of a winning run through to the final.

The Ibrox side drew 1-1 with Slavia in Prague on Thursday in the first leg of their last 16 tie. Filip Helander equalised after Nicolae Stanciu had opened the scoring for the Czechs.

That away goal gives Rangers the narrowest of advantages ahead of next Thursday’s second leg but Gerrard has confidence that they can complete the job in Glasgow.

Having already made their way past Willem II, Galatasaray and a group consisting of Benfica, Standard Liege and Lech Poznan before beating Royal Antwerp, Gerrard was asked if he and his players could dream of making their way to the final in Gdansk and lifting the trophy.

“One hundred per cent we’ll dream,” he said. “We’ve been dreaming since we qualified. There’s no harm in dreaming.

“But at the same time you’ve got to have respect for the opposition.

“You’ve got to realise the challenge and what’s coming up against you.”

With no Premiership fixture this weekend, Rangers have a week to prepare and can fully focus on the decisive match but Gerrard said that Slavia’s performance against Leicester City in the last round underlined their ability.

“This is a side who has gone away to a Premier League team and won comfortably, so in no way can we get carried away,” he said.

“It’s always nice to dream but we probably have to find our biggest performance of the season at Ibrox to get this done.”