Gerrard: "It will be slightly different to what we're used to so everyone will have to be ready for that experience."
Wednesday 19 February 2020 13:46, UK
Steven Gerrard says his Rangers side are prepared for VAR ahead of its debut in the Europa League on Thursday night.
It was decided in September that VAR would be used in the Europa League after the group stages following a successful appearance in the Champions League.
The Gers take on Braga at Ibrox in their last-32 first leg and Gerrard insists that his players are ready for the challenges that come with the technology.
"The players are well aware of how to act and what to do in certain situations," he said. "It will be slightly different to what we're used to so everyone will have to be ready for that experience.
"I think the most important thing to come out of it was to keep playing. There are certain situations where a flag can go up or a flag can stay down, in normal situations that might lead you to stop or wait, so it's important we play until the very end.
"It's important that we don't make any gesture to VAR or try and crowd around the referee and go to the monitor. They've made it very clear that they will act in that situation and dish yellow cards out.
"We'll have to be careful, behave and be very disciplined over both legs."
When asked if it will make him more tentative on the touchline, Gerrard said: "It's easier said than done!
"I normally go off the crowd's reaction or when you get close to the goal, it is one of those things that can kill the moment if a goal's chalked off. It might make me a bit calmer on the touchline but that's not a bad thing!"
Rangers take on Portuguese side Braga in their first European knockout game since 2011.
After some good recent results, Braga currently sit third in the Primeira Liga and Gerrard knows that his side will have to put in an improved performance if they are to progress over two legs.
"They are the form team in Portugal right now. Over the last four or five weeks, they've won a cup final against Porto, they've beaten Sporting Lisbon and Benfica, so we've got nothing but respect for them," he said.
"They've had good performances against Wolves and done really well to get out of the group. We know the challenge, we've been underdogs in this competition since the group stages so I don't think anything changes there.
"It's certainly a fixture we can't wait for and we're really excited. I think you can see in the player's eyes and the focus in training for the last couple of days that we're really looking forward to it.
"It's big for us without a doubt. We'll have to find a performance that we haven't been showing of late."
