Rangers FC won their away game 1-0 in the Europa League qualifiers against NK Osijek and the Scottish outfit have returned back home with an all-important away goal.
Steven Gerrard handed debuts to new signings Ryan Kent and Lassana Coulibaly but the star of the match was undoubtedly striker Alfredo Morelos who scored the only goal of the game in the 18th minute.
Morelos was a miss firing man during the first two games of the season and it was being predicted that the 22-year-old would be dropped to the bench for the clash in Croatia. But the absence of Omar Sadiq meant that Gerrard had no other option but to play Morelos up front.
And the Colombian did not disappoint.
After the match, the Light Blues manager was all praise for Alfredo Morelos and claimed that the striker did all the dirty work during the game despite being the match winner.
Gerrard said: “It was a selfless performance from Alfredo, I thought he ran himself into the ground for the sake of the team.
“My experience going away in Europe is that sometimes you have to do the dirty stuff.
BUFFALO SOLDIER 📸🐃 | A first half Alfredo Morelos strike gives Steven Gerrard's men a vital 1-0 win in Croatia 🇭🇷 over NK Osijek. #EuropaLeague pic.twitter.com/xAcLUFhCq6
— SNS Group (@snsgroup) July 26, 2018
“It’s not all about hat-tricks and it’s not all about the pretty stuff, sometimes it’s about emptying the tank for your team-mates.
“It’s about showing a different side of you on nights like this. He will have games where he has numerous chances, he’ll take them and he’ll look a superstar.
“But he’ll get the headlines in a different way tonight and I am really proud of his application and his effort. He’s going in the right direction.
The Gers will now welcome N K Osijek in the second leg of the Europa League qualifiers and the game will be played at Ibrox next Thursday evening.
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