Gerrard ‘proud’ as Rangers set new European record

Steven Gerrard hailed his record-breaking Rangers after watching them surpass Walter Smith’s 1992/93 heroes to set a new benchmark for games unbeaten in Europe.

The Ibrox club’s 0-0 Europa League draw with Spartak Moscow was their 11th game without loss this term, beating the single season record set by Smith’s squad a quarter of a century ago.

Gerrard said: “I feel very proud of the team in general and to find out yesterday that if we avoided defeat we created a bit of history, that is always a bonus as far as I am concerned.

“It is a nice thing for people to talk about but our focus now shifts swiftly to Aberdeen at the weekend, which is a huge game.

“The players certainly deserve praise having come from where they were 12 months ago, losing against a team from Luxembourg. We have come on leaps and bounds.”

The result leaves Rangers level on five points with Villarreal after the Spaniards thrashed Rapid Vienna.

Gers, however, stay top of Group G based on their head-to-head record with the Yellow Submarine following last month’s 2-2 draw at El Madrigal.

But Gerrard admits his team’s failure to capitalise on their home advantage against the Russians leaves them with a tougher route to the knock-out rounds.

He said: “I would certainly have signed for being top of the group at this stage. I would have signed up for that on June 15 on day one. We have got five points alongside Villarreal and three games to go so there are a lot of hard work and big challenges ahead.

“The job has become a little bit more difficult because we never got the breakthrough tonight, I understand that. But there is still loads of football to play and big games for the players to play in and me to coach in. I am really excited going forward.”