Steven Gerrard has said that Celtic’s Champions League exit should be a warning to his Rangers squad.
Celtic crashed out after suffering a shock 4-3 defeat to Romanian champions Cluj at Parkhead while Rangers have their own Europa League ambitions to focus on and will now look complete the job against FC Midtjylland and move a step closer to the group stages after last week’s 4-2 win in Denmark.
And Gerrard wants his men to take note of Celtic’s fate and take appropriate action, saying: “What it shows last night is that European ties are never over, even when you get a positive result in the first leg.
“Some of these teams that people don’t know much about – Cluj from Romania for example or Midtjylland from Denmark – they carry a huge threat.
“They are so desperate for financial reasons to progress, like most of us, so my players need to take note of last night and make sure we deal with our second leg much better.”
Celtic’s damaging defeat to Dan Petrescu’s side has dented hopes of Scotland’s European representatives being able to enter at a later stage.
With Scotland ranked 20th in Uefa’s ranking system, Rangers and fellow Europa League competitors Aberdeen and Kilmarnock were all forced to kick off at the first qualifying round this season, as were Celtic in the continent’s premier competition.
A rise to 17th could yet see the top two in this year’s Premiership start at the second qualifying round next term and Gerrard admits it is crucial the country’s top sides do their bit in Europe.
He said: “It’s certainly going to be detrimental because all the Scottish teams need to do as well as we can to improve the coefficient and give ourselves an advantage in these European competitions.
“From that aspect [Celtic’s defeat] is very disappointing. “But for me, I’m the manager of Glasgow Rangers and my focus is on and the challenges that face us.”
Rangers raced 3-0 up in Herning last week before a brief six-minute wobble allowed Midtjylland to pull two back. Scott Arfield restored their advantage to two goals and Gerrard now expects his men to finish the job at Ibrox.
Gerrard – whose side go in buoyant after beating Hibs 6-1 on Sunday – said: “We have to take a 0-0 mentality. Everything is to play for and I want to see a hungry performance. This team has had so much criticism over the past 14 months about not being consistent and taking the foot off the gas at important times.
“This game is a good test from a mental view. I don’t want to see a casual team thinking that because it has a two-goal advantage that the job is done. That won’t be the case.