Steven Gerrard: Rangers ready to slide back into gear after wild celebrations

Steven Gerrard insists Rangers will have no problem sliding back into gear after their wild dressing room celebrations at the weekend.

The Light Blues boss admits he got lost in the moment as he toasted being crowned champions of Scotland for the 55th time.

A video of him doing a ‘Klinsmann dive’ across the Ibrox dressing room while his players showered him with beer was even doing the rounds on social media on Saturday night after a 3-0 win over St Mirren put Gers within touching distance of the title.

The party continued the following day at their Auchenhowie training base as Celtic’s Tannadice draw confirmed their status as Scottish Premiership champions for the first time in 10 years.

But Rangers do not have long to let the hangovers clear as they return to Europa League action against last-16 rivals Slavia Prague on Thursday night.

Gerrard, though, is not concerned as he insisted it is now back to business for his triumphant troops.

Asked about the viral clip of his careering across the dressing room, he said with a grin: “That was just getting lost in the moment. I was goaded into that by the players.

“I’ve goaded them and demanded so much from them for a long time, the least I could do is get lost in the moment I suppose.

“It’s nothing a little bit of Sudocrem hasn’t sorted out and I’m back in the routine, I’m hydrated and I’m ready for the next challenge.

“Obviously the size of the achievement and the emotions that came with that, I think the players deserved to celebrate.

“We have worked ever so hard during this journey and sacrificed a lot. They have put a tremendous amount of effort in to get it over the line.

“We also as a group have had some criticism along the way and have been down at times as well.

“So when you finally get it over the line, the feeling is difficult to describe. But now we are back in the routine.

“I spoke to the players yesterday at length and we had a session where we got the legs moving again.

“They have had the chance to get some rest and it is actually a good thing that we are going away now. We can manage all the food and the hydration levels and get them ready to fire once the kick-off comes.

“It has just been an incredible few days.”

Sunday’s scenes have been a long-time coming for the Ibrox outfit.

But now they have had one taste, Gerrard says he and his squad are greedy for more.

“I think the weekend gave us that feel for success and that hunger feeling,” he said. “If I know these players as well as I think I know them, they will want more.

“They want to go and build on what we’ve achieved.

“We’ve spoke about it and discussed it at length yesterday. It will be really interesting to see what performance we can find against Slavia.

“They trained well yesterday, they were hungry, they were focused. We’ve got session today for preparation and game plan ready for tomorrow. It’s a game we’re all looking forward to.”

Not only do Gers have their Europa League adventure to continue, there is also the prospect of an unbeaten league campaign and Scottish Cup double to be completed.

“We want to add to what we have already achieved,” continued Gerrard. “We have got internal targets, we know how we want the rest of the season to look.

“We have got two incredible fixtures on the horizon in terms of the Europa League.

“We want to go further than we did last year. We want to build on what we have already achieved in Europe this season which has been fantastic.

“Then obviously we have got a huge Old Firm game to look forward to and then the Scottish Cup begins.

“That’s the way it is at Rangers. It’s not about resting on your laurels and downing tools because you have achieved something so big.

“It’s about going and trying to add to that now and making sure the season is more successful than it is where we’re sitting right now.”

The PA news agency understands Rangers are taking extra precautions ahead of the trip to Prague, which has higher levels of Covid-19 cases currently.

The club has issued Gerrard’s squad with FFP-2 masks and will be travelling straight from airport to team hotel, with no visit to the Sinobo Stadium planned.

The Glasgow outfit have also requested all hotel staff return negative test results before the players arrive.

Rangers’ own weekly coronavirus tests have returned a full sweep of negatives for all players and staff.