Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos told to 'smash it to pieces'

On Tuesday night, Steven Gerrard saw Mohamed Salah draw level with his all-time record of 21 goals in the Champions League for Liverpool.

Alfredo Morelos in upbeat mood as Rangers leave Glasgow Airport for their Europa League Group D match against Benfica in Lisbon. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

As far as the Rangers manager is concerned, it was only ever a matter of time before that achievement is wiped from his CV by the brilliant Egyptian striker who netted his 21st in the English Champions’ 5-0 win over Atalanta in Italy.

On Thursday evening in Lisbon, Gerrard hopes to see another scoring milestone reached when Benfica and Rangers put their 100 per cent winning records in Group D of the Europa League on the line in the Stadium of Light.

Last week, Alfredo Morelos equalled Ally McCoist’s record of 21 goals for Rangers in European competition when he came off the bench to head the winner against Lech Poznan at Ibrox.

The Colombian international striker’s goals have all come in the Europa League but Gerrard believes the 23-year-old has the potential to carry his prowess into the elite tournament one day.

“Records are there to be broken, of course they are,” said Gerrard. “I was very proud to see Mo Salah equal my record for Liverpool in Europe, it was only a matter of time. I honestly think he’ll go on and embarrass my record and I hope that he does.

"That kind of thing is always there for strikers. Mo Salah and Alfredo Morelos go about their business always being hungry for goals. There is nothing better than seeing someone going for a record and then smashing it to pieces. I hope for Alfredo that in the coming games he can move himself in front of Ally.

“But that does not 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.

"I am not taking anything away from Alfredo. But they are at different stages of their careers. When Ally broke the record he was a lot 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 just that.”

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