Rangers boss asks his team to 'empty the tank' at Celtic on Sunday
Sunday 29 December 2019 10:25, UK
Steven Gerrard has backed Alfredo Morelos to keep his cool when he returns to Celtic Park on Sunday.
The Rangers forward collected his fifth red card of last season on his most recent visit to Parkhead back in March, after he aimed an elbow at Hoops skipper Scott Brown.
But this term the Colombian has only been dismissed once and he came off the bench to score the winner against Kilmarnock on Boxing Day.
Gerrard said on Friday: "I have got no doubt he will be ready to face this challenge at the weekend.
"He's in the best place he can be, his behaviour has massively improved again.
"When he came on again yesterday there were people trying to provoke him and he just rolled on with it. He was brilliant."
Morelos suffered further derby disappointment earlier this month as he missed several chances - including a second-half penalty - when Rangers lost 1-0 to Celtic in the Betfred Cup final.
But Gerrard has no doubt the 23-year-old will be ready to finally break his 11-game drought against the leaders this weekend.
"The players will motivate themselves if they have anything about them," said the manager.
"This is a place that should excite them.
"I thought Alfredo's all-round performance was really good. He created a lot of the chances for himself out of nothing.
"He's just got to go out and do exactly the same thing but try and take the big moments in the game. If he does, it will give us a better chance of winning.
"His inner resolve is an area of him that I don't think you ever have to worry about. He's in love with football, he doesn't like missing one minute of training. He doesn't like being a sub or coming off.
"He motivates himself every time he sees a ball."
In their final game before the winter break, Rangers have a chance to pull to within two points of Celtic at the top of table - and they also have a game in hand.
Rangers made it three wins in a row - with no goals conceded - when they beat Kilmarnock 1-0 on Thursday, and Gerrard added: "We are ready, we are in good form, we are looking forward to it.
"It's a really tough game. We are aware of Celtic's home record, their consistency from the start of the season until now.
"So it's a big test but we can't be going into his game in better shape ourselves, because we are really happy with where we are right now.
"The final was decided by big moments going against us but this is a different game, different competition.
"Obviously the same players are against us, which are good players, but we proved on the day we are more than a match and this is a game where the players should go in with belief and confidence.
"It's the last game before the break, they have got nothing to save themselves, for so just go and empty the tank, and see what we can take away from it."
