NICO RASKIN was proud of his teammates as 10-man Rangers battled to hold Athletic Club to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals last night.
It was a huge effort from Barry Ferguson’s men, with Liam Kelly saving a second-half penalty to leave the tie in the balance ahead of next week’s reverse leg in Spain.
Speaking to RangersTV at full-time, Raskin said: “It was a big effort, we were tired, but at the same time we are proud of this performance.
"It was not a beautiful performance, but sometimes you have got to play that game and with the early red card we knew it was going to be difficult. I am proud of the team for showing character and we have got everything to play for next week, so we are happy.
“A red card always affects the team, the plan, the way we were going to play, especially against a team like that. Athletic Club likes to keep the ball, they like to play small passes, but we knew it would be hard.
“That is also one of our strengths in Europe. We can dig deep and stay together, and we are proud and we have got everything to play for.”
Raskin praised Liam Kelly for his penalty save, before turning his focus to Aberdeen on Sunday as he hopes the team can follow it up with another big performance in the Scottish Premiership.
He continued: “In Europe we have had great effort from our goalkeepers if you look at Jack [Butland] in penalties against Fenerbahce and now Liam here.
"It is just amazing that we can count on them and that they save us from the difficult situations, so it has been a big team effort.
“We now need to recover because we have got a big game at the weekend, and we have revenge to take in the league.”
On next week’s second-leg, Raskin added: “We know they are a good side but we are also a good side, but we know what we can do 11 against 11 and we will try and stay with 11 and go and compete for the win and make sure we qualify.”