Rangers play Hearts in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tynecastle on Saturday; kick-off is at 5.30pm
Friday 28 February 2020 13:12, UK
Steven Gerrard hopes the "real" Rangers show up against Hearts in the Scottish Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
The Rangers boss endured an unhappy 100th game in charge of the club against Hearts in the league in January, admitting his side were "unrecognisable" in their 2-1 defeat.
They travel to Tynecastle on the weekend hoping to book their place in the semi-finals for the fourth time in the last five seasons, but Hearts have won each of their last three Scottish Cup matches against Rangers in the capital.
Despite Hearts also being unbeaten in their last 10 Scottish Cup matches at Tynecastle, Gerrard is confident of getting a positive result against them this time.
"The only thing we have to prove is that the real Rangers are there for the challenge because I was pretty strong in my assessment of the last 90 minutes there and that I didn't recognise the performance.
"Hearts have beaten us once, they're a good team and we respect them but more often than not we've gone there and we've shown the real Rangers and got the outcome we've wanted. Hopefully the real Rangers will turn up and if we do I'm confident we'll be okay."
Asked how much he wants to reach the final, Gerrard added: "I think the semi-final first and foremost but we are very determined.
"It's an important competition, it always has been from the beginning. We've always shown that respect by putting the strongest team available out at the time to get to where we are now. We'll go down to Edinburgh with the strongest possible squad to get the job done."
Rangers are unbeaten in their last 10 away Scottish Cup matches - winning eight and drawing twice - their last defeat coming against Dundee United in February 2013.
Gerrard will also be buoyed by his side's performances against Braga in the Europa League, culminating in Rangers ending their 12-year wait for an away European win on Wednesday to reach the last 16.
"We've come through two real big challenges as a group [against Braga]," Gerrard said.
"Braga over both legs were a very dangerous team with top quality individual players and they've got a real interesting way of playing - they've had a lot of domestic success by doing that.
"To come through both ties the way we have, the players should take confidence and belief from that, but Hearts will pose a different type of challenge in a different environment. We need to make sure that we're recovered both physically and mentally for that test."
