RANGERS have put themselves in a good position in this Round of 16 Europa League tie, earning a 1-1 draw away to Slavia Prague.
Ahead of next week’s second leg back at Ibrox, Filip Helander’s away goal on 36 minutes cancelled out an early opener from Nicolae Stanciu.
Boss Gerrard named an unchanged side for this evening’s clash, with the manager keeping faith with the team which was so impressive in defeating St Mirren 3-0 on Saturday – a result which, of course, led to Gers becoming Champions on Sunday.
That meant it was Allan McGregor in goal with a back four of Nathan Patterson, stand-in captain Connor Goldson, Helander and Borna Barisic in front of him.
Glen Kamara, Steven Davis and Joe Aribo were in midfield, while up front, Ianis Hagi and Ryan Kent played in support of Alfredo Morelos.
After a pretty cagey start, it was Slavia who hit the front. From the edge of the area, Nicolae Stanciu found space to curl an effort beyond Allan McGregor and into the back of the net with just seven minutes on the clock.
Gers started to show signs of coming back into the game as the half progressed, but McGregor was called upon to save well from Lukas Provid who tried to catch the goalkeeper out with a quick free-kick strike to his near post.
Morelos was close to charging down a loose clearance from goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar, before on 36 minutes, Gers drew themselves level.
Gers pushed men forward for a Barisic deep free-kick from the left, and typically, it was a superb delivery from the Croatian international.
It dropped for Goldson to prod forward for Hagi to pick up to the left of goal, and he showed great bravery to get a cross beyond the diving Kolar who came to shut the angle. Coming in on the end of the loose ball was Filip Helander to tap home his third of the season.
Gers began the second half with more control over the game, and good play from Morelos from wide gave Aribo the opportunity for a shot from the edge of the area which slipped just wide.
Kolar then made a super save from a looping Ryan Kent effort on the end of an Aribo cross – the goalkeeper stretching everything to tip the winger’s effort over the crossbar.
Goldson was then millimetres away from connecting to another outstanding Barisic delivery from wide, while at the other end, Nathan Patterson made a phenomenal block from Jan Boril in the area as he looked set to score.
McGregor then made a quite unbelievable save from Lukas Masopust in the final minute of normal time. The Slavia man got a superb connection to a corner to bullet a header low to McGregor’s left, and somehow, the Rangers number one got down, one-handed to firstly block the shot, and then even more incredibly, hold onto the loose ball.
It preserved the draw on the night for Gers, who hold the slight advantage going into next week with the away goal.
RANGERS: McGregor, Patterson, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Kamara (Zungu, 88), Davis, Aribo (Roofe, 81), Hagi (Arfield, 63), Kent, Morelos.
SUBS: McLaughlin, Bassey, Itten, Wright, Stewart, Simpson, King.
SK SLAVIA PRAHA: Kolar, Holes, Bah, Zima, Stanciu (Lingr, 76), Olayinka (Masopust 45), Sima, Kudela, Kucta (Dorley, 72), Provod, Boril.
SUBS: Kovar, Vagner, Deli, Tecl, Hromada, Visinsky.
REFEREE: Ovidiu Hategan (Romaina)
VAR: Marco Di Bello