Steven Gerrard urges Rangers players to make fans proud with Europa League qualification
Wednesday 12 December 2018 19:02, UK
Steven Gerrard wants his Rangers players to send a message to the club's large following in Vienna with a positive performance in Thursday's crucial Europa League clash.
Around 12,000 supporters are understood to have travelled to Austria ahead of Rangers' must-win game with Rapid Vienna.
The Austrian club have sold out their 22,000-seater Allianz Arena with an additional 400 tickets given to travelling fans, taking Rangers' allocation to 2,500.
Up to 9,000 more are travelling without tickets and Rapid's head of security Andreas Marek has appealed for home fans not to re-sell their tickets.
When asked if he had any words of advice for the Rangers fans, Gerrard said: "We hope that they all remain safe and enjoy the occasion. It is a fantastic match for them.
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"It is no surprise to me that they have come over in their numbers. They have been doing that for many years. They love the club, they are passionate and they want to be part of big games.
"I don't want to give them a message in terms of our performance because I want my players to send that message.
"I want my players to go and make the supporters proud and make themselves proud by emptying everything they have got and leaving it all on the pitch. The rewards are well worth it."
Rangers arrived without a win in their last two Scottish Premiership matches, having lost 1-0 at home to Aberdeen, followed by a 1-1 draw with Dundee.
The club are third in their Europa League group and need to return to winning ways or they will be eliminated from the competition, but Gerrard believes his players can overcome the challenge.
"I expected a reaction at Dundee. The last two performances I don't think we have shown the real Rangers," he said.
"This is a completely different game. This is going to be a different style of game because Rapid will come out and attack us.
"We are expecting a positive performance especially with a very vocal crowd behind them. We don't expect them to try and spoil the game like the last two games have looked like.
"We know that the challenge is very big. I see it as a 50-50 match and I just hope that my team is on the winning side."
