Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has told The Scottish Sun that he thinks Alfredo Morelos will eventually play Champions League football.
The Gers are back in action this evening as they travel over to Portugal to take on Benfica in a mouthwatering Europa League clash.
Rangers have been superb so far in Europe, beating Standard Liege 2-0 and Lech Poznan 1-0, but this will be their biggest test to date.
Striker Morelos is expected to lead the line, and that means he has a chance to break Ally McCoist’s European goalscoring record for Rangers.
Morelos tied McCoist on 21 European goals last week by scoring the winner against Poznan, so he can break that record with a goal tonight.
Gerrard has though pumped the breaks on comparisons, believing that it has to be noted that McCoist scored goals in the Champions League, which is a higher level than the Europa League.
Still, Gerrard predicts that Morelos will play in the Champions League eventually, having ‘no doubt’ that he will do so – but the comparisons between the Colombian and McCoist are unfair right now.
“I hope for Alfredo that in the coming games he can move himself in front of Ally,” said Gerrard. “But as I’ve said many times, that does mean that all of a sudden he should be held in the same breath as McCoist, we have to be respectful over what’s gone before and recognise how successful Ally was. Ally scored a lot of goals in the Champions League which is obviously a higher level than the Europa.”
“Alfredo has done well. He’s scored a lot of goals in his time here and I am not taking anything away from Alfredo. But they’re at different stages of their careers. When Ally broke the record he was older. Alfredo has the potential to play in the Champions League, there is no doubt in my mind that at some stage he’ll do that. It’s one for me where you compare both players at the end of Alfredo’s career. I don’t think it’s fair to draw comparisons just now,” he added.
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