In a controversial decision which turned the course of the match, midfielder Daniel Candeias was sent off for the home side mere seconds before half time.

However, despite having to play with one player less for the second half of the contest, Rangers managed to hold onto a precious point, and thus keep their last 16 hopes alive.

Now, Gerrards 'gers' head into their final Group G clash needing to beat Rapid Vienna away from home, in a fortnight's time.

While a victory in Austria is enough to see the Glasgow giants through, manager Gerrard has admitted that his players have goalkeeper Allan McGregor to thank for keeping it a possibility.

After the match, Gerrard praised McGregor, telling 'BT Sport': ""I'm running out of things to say about him. He's been top-class since day one, every single day in training and all the games. Those saves tonight were wow."

He added: ""It was a heroic night. I'm very proud of my players. Daniel Candeias has a lot of friends in that dressing room. Every single one of them rolled their sleeves up and dug in against a fantastic team, a team full of top, top players after he was sent off."

The Rangers boss was still dubious about the decision that put his team in such a difficult predicament.

He added: ""I'd like to see the sending-off again because it happened on the other side of the pitch. I'd be guessing right now but we'll certainly analyse the incident and make a judgement when we view it from different angles. Daniel feels hard done by, though."

Things could have been even better for Rangers, who nearly snatched the spoils very late on, but to be denied by the linesman's flag.

Yet Gerrard, who is still in the early stages of his managerial and Rangers career, has admitted that he could not be prouder of his players.

He concluded: "We had some good moments even with 10 men and could actually have stolen it, although we didn't deserve to win on the balance to play. However, it would have been cruel if we hadn't taken a point. We know go to Vienna with the chance of making the group stages and I'd have taken that when Shkupi came here at the start of the journey."

Rangers now return to Premier League action, when they travel to the capital Edinburgh, to face Hearts on Sunday afternoon.

D. Candeias

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