Delighted boss Steven Gerrard has hailed his Rangers players for their performance against Slavia Prague.
Filip Helander 's away goal in the 1-1 draw in the Czech capital was given The Light Blues a great chance of reaching the last eight of the Europa League ahead of the Ibrox second leg.
Having been crowned Premiership champions just days ago, Gerrard praised his players for their focus on continuing their unbeaten European run.
Teenage right-back Nathan Patterson was singled out for special praise by the boss on BT Sport following his first start in continental competition.
He said: "What you've got to take into consideration is everyone connected to the club has had a real emotional week.
"So to give to the game in terms of effort and application I'm so proud of the players.
"Nathan Patterson epitomised that. He was really strong and he became a man tonight.
"There is plenty more appearances (for him) for us moving forward after his suspension is done so we are really pleased with him. "
Nicolae Stanciu curled a stunning strike past Allan McGregor in the opening exchanges as Rangers struggled against the Czech league leaders.
Gerrard admits they found it tough in the first half but believes they showed enough to be confident going into the return leg in Govan.
He added: "This is a difficult place to come. We're playing against a real, strong powerful team and they like to play with 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 have had they certainly came out of the blocks quicker. They scored a wonderful goal. Sometimes you have got to put your hand up and say you've been done by a wonderful goal.
"Once we settled into the game I think we did more that enough to get back into it. I think we more than matched them from that point to the end, and the tie is finely balanced now.
"It's very important [the away goal] you've got to try and do that. That's the minimum you've got to take back to Ibrox, the away goal.
"It's a tough place to come here, but it's a non-negotiable in our team that if a cross comes in the box you've got to run through the goalposts. I
"Credit to Fil [Filip Helander] he never switched off and Ianis done fantastically well and I think over the 90 minutes we deserved that. "
