Steven Gerrard lays down fresh challenge for Alfredo Morelos as Rangers' match winner equals Euro record

Alfredo Morelos has been challenged to build on his European scoring heroics with Rangers by helping the Ibrox club to end their long wait for silverware this season.

Alfredo Morelos celebrates after scoring the only goal of Rangers' 1-0 win over Lech Poznan at Ibrox and equalling the all-time club European record of 21 goals set by Ally McCoist. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Morelos scored the only goal of the match as Rangers beat Lech Poznan 1-0 to claim the second successive win of their Europa League Group D campaign, leaving them level on maximum points alongside top seeds Benfica.

The Colombian striker’s superb 68th minute header also saw him draw level with the all-time Rangers’ European record of 21 goals set by the club’s most successful and prolific striker Ally McCoist.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard hailed Morelos’ achievement but insists he needs to follow it up by playing his part in the bid to win trophies in the coming months.

“It’s fantastic for Alfredo from a personal point of view,” said Gerrard. “He deserves it because he has scored some really big and important goals in Europe for us since I’ve come in.

“So I’m really pleased for Alfredo. I was asked to compare the two players a little while back - but Ally is a legend of the club who has been there, done it and has the t-shirt. He’s got the medals to back it up.

“The challenge now for Alfredo is can be build on all the goals and try to help his team become successful at the end of the season.”

Morelos came off the bench, replacing Kemar Roofe, to score for the first time in seven appearances.

"Listen, Alfredo hasn’t been dropped,” added Gerrard. “Maybe he was in your eyes but for me it was about trying to take him out and freshen him up to get that spark that he has maybe been missing in the last couple of appearances. He has played a lot of football, he came back from Colombia with a bit of jetlag after the last international break and I think it was needed. We needed to get Kemar moving as well and get a good 60 minutes into his legs. It was positive all round in the forward positions and hopefully that will be the spark for Alfredo to go on and score more goals for us.”

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