It takes something special to make Steven Gerrard jealous.
Gerrard will go down as one of the game’s greatest ever midfielders and given his highlight reel of goals and famous Champions League triumph, he has very little to envy.
But even he sometimes finds himself jealous of the talent before his eyes.
The Rangers manager has admitted that was blown away by midfielder Ryan Jack’s performance as Gers eked by Osijek in the Europa League second qualifying round on Thursday night.
Making only his second start of 2018, Jack impressed as Rangers claimed a 1-1 draw at home to make it 2-1 on aggregate.
“This is a kid who missed six months at the back end of last season. I am delighted with Ryan’s performance,” Gerrard said.
“I’ve got a good type on my hands there. He’s a player who cares, who wants to win and is prepared to go out and do exactly what you’ve asked of him.
“I think he made one minor mistake during 90 minutes in a big football match. As a midfielder, I was jealous of Ryan’s performance tonight.”
Gerrard’s side will now face Slovenia’s Maribor in the third qualifying round after getting past Osijek and the Liverpool legend claimed that the pre-match comments from Thursday evening’s opposition spurred Rangers on at Ibrox.
Osijek midfielder Robert Mudrazija insisted that his team was “better, stronger and more skilful” than Rangers ahead of this week’s return leg.
“Sometimes it doesn’t help your players, it just motivates the opposition” Gerrard said. “Talking doesn’t win you football matches – it doesn’t get you results.
“We thrive on all that kind of talk. We enjoyed it. My players came out and played like men and we did our talking on the pitch.”
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