STEVEN GERRARD has warned his Rangers players not to underestimate Midtjylland and run the risk of repeating Celtic’s European errors.
The Ibrox boss saw his Old Firm rivals clash out of the Champions League this week as Cluj won 4-3 at Parkhead to move into the play-offs.
And Gerrard is determined to avoid a similar fate when the Gers defend a 4-2 first leg lead in the Europa League this evening.
Gerrard said: “Midtjylland showed enough last week to deserve the ultimate respect. They carried a threat, they’re a good team.
“We’ve seen their threat at set-pieces and scoring two goals in such a short period of time against us, even though it was a 4-2 game. We’ve got ourselves this advantage but it would be very naive of us to take our foot off the pedal thinking it’s done.
READ MORE: Rangers winger Sheyi Ojo understands Steven Gerrard's selection headaches this term
“I think what [Tuesday] night emphasised is that sometimes these clubs, whether it be in the Europa or Champions League, they come and do well. You get drawn against them and people think it’s a gimme because they haven’t got this European recognition.
“But FC Cluj showed over the two games that they were a right handful and a big threat and Midtjylland are the same. We came off the gas for five or six minutes and they scored two goals against us.
“I think you have to respect everyone you come up against and give it your full attention — otherwise you can come unstuck.
“I think it goes across the board in any competition we’re in. I’ve said it before, we’re not at a stage where we can pick and choose when we want to play and who we want to respect.
“We’ve achieved nothing together — and if we are going to achieve something together we have to be at it every single game.
“That’s everything you need even before you step onto a football pitch. Respect and focus on the job in hand is the priority, otherwise we won’t find the performances we need.”
Rangers followed up their victory in Denmark last week with a 6-1 win against Hibernian on Sunday.
And Gerrard is pleased with the threat that the Light Blues have shown as they bid for a play-off berth.
READ MORE: Kenneth Andersen hopes Midtjylland can follow Cluj example and shock Rangers in Europe
He said: “There is a ruthless touch about us at the moment. We’ve mentioned many buzz words over the past 12 months. But, certainly, consistency was one of them. We were short last year. I always thought we’d take three or four steps forward then we’d take a big bump in the road. So, consistency was one.
“Putting teams away as quick as we can, that ruthlessness in front of goal, is another. People are stepping forward and posting numbers now. (Jermain) Defoe gets his hat-trick, (Alfredo) Morelos comes on as hungry as ever and gets a brace and Sheyi (Ojo) in the 91st minute is thinking ‘I haven’t got my number in terms of a goal and I want it.’
“That’s the mentality, the attitude, I want from all of the players.
“He already had two assists. It would’ve been easy for him to say ‘It’s 5-1, job’s done, let’s relax.’
“Instead, though, he’s wanting in on the goals and we’re looking to get as many as we can and show teams that are even watching us that we have improved from last year.”
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