Gerrard aware Rangers need to ‘click into gear’ against Braga

Steven Gerrard admits Rangers have to find their top form when they return to European duty against Braga on Thursday night.

The Light Blues host the Portuguese side in the first-leg of the last-32 at Ibrox and the Gers boss watched Braga beat Benfica 1-0 away from home on Saturday to make it eight wins and a draw in nine games in 2020.

Gerrard watched his side beat Livingston 1-0 at Ibrox on Sunday thanks to a Scott Arfield goal to keep them 10 points behind Celtic at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership with a game in hand over their Old Firm rivals, before turning his attention to Europe.

He said: “It’s a reward for how well we have done in that competition.

“The players have been outstanding from the first qualifier. To be in the last-32 the players deserve a lot of credit and praise.

“But one thing is for sure, we are going to have to click into gear. We are going to have to be at our best or close to our best to get the result we want on Thursday.

“I watched Braga against Benfica last night and they are a decent team.

“They are in a rich vein of form. They will come here in confident mood but if we can somehow find out best European performance, I’m confident we can give them a right good game.”

Gerrard described Andy Halliday as a “very, very lucky boy” after the left-back picked up a face injury falling over an advertising board in the second half.

He said: “He has gone over the advertising board and there has been a chair upside down and he has got a gash underneath his eyebrow.

“He is an extremely lucky boy but I thought he was excellent and showed a lot of grit.

“He has come into the team and at Killie he was really strong and today he was really strong.”