Connor Goldson responded to Rangers’ Europa League qualification by declaring: bring on Manchester United.
Steven Gerrard’s side edged out Legia Warsaw 1-0 on aggregate thanks to Alfredo Morelos’ injury-time winner to book their place in today’s group-stage draw in Monaco.
Former Liverpool skipper Gerrard knows who he wants to face after joking: “I wouldn’t mind going and parking the bus at Old Trafford!”
And defender Goldson, who grew up supporting his manager’s old Anfield side, is in full agreement.
He said: “Maybe it’s inevitable we get Manchester United. Hopefully we do.
“We want to play against the big European teams and there’s a few in the hat.
“It would be good to test ourselves against the best.
“Rangers are about group-stage football. The gaffer reminded us at the start of qualification that we needed to deliver European football to Rangers.
“It’s a massive selling point to any player coming here. We all want to take this club to have as high a profile as possible and as players we want to play against teams from different countries.”
The Gers support have found themselves under close scrutiny after being handed a double UEFA rap for sectarian chanting this week.
The club were ordered to close a section housing 3,000 fans after falling foul of the governing body during their opening qualifier with St Joseph’s and could yet face an even harsher punishment after further chants were aired in Poland last week.
But the empty seats made no difference to the atmosphere as Rangers were roared into the group stage for the second year in succession.
Goldson added: “It was brilliant. I just said to the new boys in the changing room after the game: ‘Welcome to Rangers’.
“These European nights and the Old Firm matches are what you come to Rangers for.
“If you can’t turn up in this atmosphere there’s no point being a footballer. But the fans were great tonight. They never let us down.
“The Legia fans came with a lot of fans and made a lot of noise in both legs.
“The atmosphere at their place was electric, but I feel we beat their atmosphere here on a European night like that at Ibrox. The fans drove us on.”
