Steven Gerrard has urged Rangers to be bold and prove Ibrox is now a European fortress as they look to book a place in the Europa League last 16.
Royal Antwerp head to Glasgow for Thursday’s second leg looking to overturn a 4-3 deficit from a pulsating encounter in Belgium last week.
But Gerrard - who says his players have been "unstoppable" up to this point - has challenged them to finish the job in style and send out a message to Europe.
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s tie the Gers boss gave updates on injured trio James Tavernier, Ryan Jack and Kemar Roofe.
He responded to the news Neil Lennon has left Celtic.
And he spoke of his pride at seeing his players stand on the verge of the league title.
Here’s everything Gerrard said at this morning’s press conference:
Gerrard on his approach to the second leg with his side 4-3 ahead
“I can only tell you how I think we’re going to approach it. I don’t really know what the opposition are going to do in terms of their manager’s tactics or their game plan.
“The scoreline sits how it is in terms of the advantage we’ve got, but we certainly won’t be going in with that mentality.
“We see it as a fresh game and we want to improve on our performance from a defensive point of view.
“We want to be a lot tighter and more difficult to play against. Having said that, we still want to carry a threat and score as many goals as we can but at home, we’re not going to sit and wait and protect.
“We’re going to treat this game in isolation and go for the win and be really bold in how we play.
“This is our home and we want to show everyone how difficult it is to play against this team when they come to Ibrox.”
Gerrard on Antwerp having to attack - leaving gaps to exploit?
“We’ll have to work it out. We’ll have our own game plan and the players will have our own way to go about things and we’ll see how Antwerp set up.
“But the players are going to have to be clever. They’re going to have to be aware of Antwerp’s game plan and we’ll see in the opening stages whether they come and press us and get after us.
“If they do, we’ll try and utilise the space behind them and we’ll try and play through that press and do what we can and we’ll also be ready if they come with a cagey approach.
“We have to adapt to the job and be ready for whatever is thrown at us but we will make sure the players are prepared for what is thrown at us.
“It’s always a case of the focus being on us and how we go about it and how many problems we’re going to cause the opposition.
“We’ve been fantastic at home and we want to be on the front foot and go and put on a performance to make our supporters proud.
“If we do that, I’m confident we can finish the job off but we’ve certainly got respect for this opposition.
“They showed last week that they’ve got dangerous players and we know they’ll welcome one or two back as well. We’ve got to be at it and at our best and that’s why the focus has got to be on us.”
Gerrard on using experience of Braga at this stage last season to help
“I think you can always tap in to experiences good or bad from previous games and fixtures. But with all due respect this is a new fixture against a new manager, new opposition, it’s a new game, the game sits different.
“We went to Braga in the second leg away, this time we’re at home so it has a lot of differences as well.
“I don’t think there’s any harm in tapping into previous experiences, especially when you’ve been on the good side of them. We want to have confidence and belief going into this game.
“We want to back ourselves, we want to play at the right times but I think the key to this second leg is what we do out of possession, how organised we are, how difficult we are to play against.
“I’ve got no doubt that at the right times we can hurt this opposition but we have to do the most important job first and that’s to be tough, organised, difficult to play against, aggressive, and then go and create our moments to execute when they come.”
Gerrard on how his team has grown in past 12 months
“Our recruitment was very good. Adding key players to what we had here was very important.
“The experience of the previous two seasons we’ve used to our benefit in terms of our growth and trying to move forward.
“The work that’s happened on the training pitch from all my coaching staff. It’s been a real combination of factors but the key thing here is always that hunger, determination to become more consistent.
“Our results have proven that. We’ve been unstoppable up to this point. St Mirren are the only team who managed to do that and we weren’t ourselves on that night.
“Credit to St Mirren but we came off what we’ve been for the majority of the season and that’s been a real hungry team and we’ve managed to find that level of consistency to get results.”
Gerrard on being on brink of league title and last 16 of Europe
“It’s not about me. It’s about the supporters, the club, the players. I totally respect the position I’m sitting in right now.
“We’re on the verge of turning Europe into a successful season again by matching last season’s efforts to get to the last 16 but we still have a big job to do tomorrow night.
“If we can do that it will be a real positive in terms of our journey but that will give us the determination to go one step further than last year from a European point of view.
“We’re on the verge of the league campaign which I’m extremely proud of but my attitude and focus won’t change until we go and get it done.
“There’s still work to do, hurdles to get over and tough games on the horizon. But we’re extremely determined to go and take the opportunity we’ve got sitting here right now and that opportunity is to make Europe a success and also domestic in terms of the league.
“It’s a fantastic position but we need to go and grab it now and capitalise on the position we’re in.”
Gerrard on injuries - Tavernier, Jack and Roofe
“Nothing has changed in terms of James and Kemar. We’ve had the reports back on the scans and I think to be sensible we’re looking around the three week mark for both situations.
“Obviously it’s two different injuries, the medical team will rehab both players and I’m confident they’ll have them back when it’s safe for them to return.
“In terms of Jack we’ve had more positive news on the scan. There’s not very much muscle damage in there.
“There’s no muscle tear but there’s been a small bleed in there we’re going to have to protect so he’ll be a couple of weeks as well so it will definitely be on the positive side rather than the negative side in terms of his report.”
Gerrard on Neil Lennon’s departure from Celtic
"I can't say I'm surprised because of obviously what's been going on over there.
“But I obviously take no personal satisfaction from seeing that news to Neil or any other fellow manager that happens to. So I wish him well for the future.
“I only really found out about it this morning but obviously the focus for me is on the game tomorrow.”
