Ferguson Praises Gers Squad Togetherness

Cyriel Dessers netted the opener in Istanbul before Vaclav Cerny scored a double to set-up an exciting second-leg at Ibrox in the round of 16 next Thursday evening.

Speaking to RangersTV at full-time, Ferguson said: “I am big on character, if you want to play at a club like Rangers you need to get results like this every time you play.

“I know that is not going to happen all of the time, but if you have a wee bump you need to react in the right manner.

“I thought to a man tonight, even the guys that came off the bench, you have to give them credit. Even the boys on the bench kept supporting. It is important to me there is a real togetherness, and they certainly showed that on the pitch tonight.

“It was a great result and a great performance, but we also know that it is only half-time in the tie. We’ll come back in, and we’ll refocus for the game next Thursday. They have got a top manager, and I expect Fenerbahce to be a different team next week.”

Rangers opened the scoring after just six minutes through Cyriel Dessers, who saw two goals disallowed for offside in the second-half. Ferguson was pleased with how his side responded in the game.

He said: “It is always important to get off to a good start and I think that is what we did, we spoke about it before the game, when you come to places like this it is intimidating at times but I also said go and enjoy these kinds of atmospheres this is what playing football is all about.

“They obviously got the equaliser, we didn’t let our heads go down which is important and then I thought we finished the first-half strong.

“In the second-half I thought again we created a number of chances, obviously we had the two goals disallowed but it is easy again to feel sorry for yourself but one thing about the boys now they are starting to learn they can’t be that way at Rangers.”

Looking ahead to next week’s second-leg, Ferguson continued: “It has been a problem at Ibrox, I am not going to stand here and say it has not been, you know the last three results have been nowhere near acceptable.

“That is something that I spoke to them briefly about in the dressing room just there, and that is something that we need to hit head on on Monday because Fenerbahce are a right good team and they have got a top manager so they’ll be hurting so we’ll expect a tough tough game next Thursday night.”

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