Steven Gerrard insists he wants ‘world class’ Allan McGregor to sign a new contract after the veteran keeper pulled off a miracle save to put Rangers within 90 minutes of the last eight of the Europa League.
The 39-year-old No.1 broke Slavia Prague’s hearts with a magnificent last minute stop at the Eden Arena to keep out a bullet header from sub Lukas Masopust and allow Gerrard’s team to get back to Glasgow with a 1-1 first leg draw.
The result leaves Scotland’s champions in a strong position to finish off the job back at Ibrox next week and clinch a place in the quarter finals.
And Gerrard revealed afterwards that a contract extension is already on the table for his ageing shot stopper.
Gerrard beamed: ‘I’ve spoken about it before, how much we rate Allan, how much we love him here, how much we want to carry on.
“At the same time, I’ve told you guys I will respect him. He knows what’s on the table. He’s in discussions with the club and from where I’m sitting, I hope we get it over the line and sign him up for another year because he is more than capable.
“I know that on a daily basis by working with him and watching him closely. The decision is going to be down to Allan, not us. Because we certainly want him.”
Gerrard, though, admitted Rangers struggled to come out of the blocks against a pacey, powerful Czech side after celebrating clinching a first Premiership title in 10 years over the weekend.
They were 1-0 down after only six minutes when McGregor was beaten by a wonder-strike from Nicolae Stanciu. But they fought back to bag a crucial equaliser through Filip Helander before halftime after the Swede was presented with an open goal by Ianis Hagi’s quick thinking.
Gerrard said: “I thought there were a few big, pivotal moments in the game and opportunities for both sides to get the winner. Allan has come big for us again and it is a top, top save to get it back and drag it back into his grasp. It was another world class save.
“But this is a difficult place to come, we were playing against a real powerful, strong team and they like to play at a real high intensity.
"I think that shocked us a bit at the beginning - not in terms of our preparation because we knew it was coming - but after the week we’ve had they certainly came out of the blocks quicker.
“But once we settled into the game we did more than enough to get back into it. If anything we more than matched them from that point until the end.
“So I think it’s a fair result over the 90 minutes and the tie is finely balanced now.
“I think over the 90 minutes we certainly deserved it. Connor Goldson could have scored another goal for us and we also had some good opportunities on the break bursting into the box. Overall I have no complaints with the result and it’s all set up for a fantastic game next week.”
