Barry Ferguson has called on his Rangers side to finish a “job half done” when they welcome Fenerbahçe to Ibrox on Thursday for the second leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie.
Last week’s trip to Türkiye saw Rangers run out as comfortable winners, claiming a 3-1 victory thanks to goals from Cyriel Dessers and Vaclav Cerny.
“I would rather have had another couple of goals if I am being honest with you,” Ferguson told reporters, adding that “I expect them to come for us because they are 3-1 down so we are prepared for that.”
“We have got a game that we have to go and take head on because what an opportunity we have got to go into the last eight – but we have also got to be respectful that we are coming up against a very good team.”
Ferguson is confident that Rangers “have prepared in the right manner,” and acknowledged that the break between these two legs has been “the first time [he has] really had time with the players to go and work on certain things, and they have worked ever so hard so that’s all I can ask for as a manager.”
The 47-year-old noted: “I still think there are areas we can improve and that is what we have tried to do over the last three days. We are under no illusions that it is going to be a different game, Fenerbahçe will be hurting, I know that and my players are well aware.”
“It is easy to get carried away when you have a performance like we did last Thursday, but there’s no chance I was allowing that to happen. The players had a couple of days to go away and spend a bit of time with their families which was well earned, but they knew coming back there’s a job half done, and we need to complete that job tomorrow.”