Modest Rangers keeper Allan McGregor played down his wonder save in Prague after admitting he simply threw out a hand and hoped for the best.
Steven Gerrard’s newly-crowned Scottish champions had their veteran goalkeeper to thank as they emerged from the Eden Arena with a 1-1 first-leg draw that keeps hopes of the Europa League quarter-finals on track.
Slavia refused to show sympathy to Gers following their wild weekend of title celebrations, netting inside seven minutes through Nicolae Stanciu’s stunning opener.
Filip Helander squared things up as the colour returned to the Light Blues’ cheeks, tapping home after Ianis Hagi chased down a lost cause.
But it was McGregor’s one-handed stop to claw away a Lukas Masopust header in the final minute which means Gers have one foot in the last eight.
However, the 39-year-old told BT Sport: “I saw it a wee bit late. It’s just one of these things. You react to it, you stick your hand out and hopefully it doesn’t go in. And it never – so happy days.
“Time will tell (if we are happy with the result). I’ll tell you next Thursday if we are happy with it or not.
“But after the start of the game I thought we did well to come back into it. We created some good chances, obviously got a good goal and played better all round.
“I don’t think they changed a lot throughout the game. We knew what they were going to do, we knew what they were all about.
“We just didn’t handle it very well for the first 15 or 20 minutes. But we did after that.
“At half-time we just said the result was okay but the performance wasn’t great. So if we upped our performance levels we could win the game or create more chances.”
Gers crashed out of last year’s competition at the last-16 stage but McGregor is confident the Ibrox men can go at least one step further this time.
He said: “That’s always your aim. We have the belief but we are up against a good side, so it will be difficult.
“We want to do it, obviously. You go into every game, especially at this club, wanting to win it and every competition.”
