BORNA Barisic last night denied that Rangers’ Europa League last 16 tie with Bayer Leverkusen is effectively over despite his side crashing to a 3-1 defeat at Ibrox - and expressed hope the second leg in Germany next week goes ahead as scheduled.

Barisic and his team mates conceded goals to Kai Havertz, Charles Aranguiz and Leon Bailey at home and face a mammoth task coming back against the classy Bundesliga high flyers and progressing to the quarter-finals.

The rematch in the BayArena on Thursday night will be played behind closed doors due to concerns over coronavirus – and UEFA could decide to abandon the competition altogether at a meeting next Tuesday.

However, Croatian left back Barisic refused to accept that Steven Gerrard’s team, who netted in the second-half through George Edmundson, have no hope of progressing to the last eight if the game is played. 

The defender, who went close with a free-kick at 2-1, feels the way that Rangers fought back after falling two goals behind and came from 2-0 down to beat Braga 3-2 at home in the last round shows they can salvage the situation.

“I want this game to go ahead,” he said. “I always want these games to go ahead and we will see what happens.

“Bayer Leverkusen showed they are a very good team and deserved their win, but we are going there to try and beat them and to try and score three goals. It will be very hard and we know that, but we will not surrender.

“It’s not been easy as we haven’t played as well in the second half of the season as we did in the first half. But we are professionals and this is a big club and we need to give the best of ourselves every time we go on the pitch.” 

Barisic added: “It gives us hope that we had moments in the game which were similar to when we fought back from two goals down in the previous round against Braga.

“There are similarities and it was after we pressed them for about 10 minutes and we believed we could score another goal after we made it 2-1, but unfortunately they scored another goal and the game was finished.

“But I cannot say it’s over as it’s never over. We have seen big turnarounds in Europe in the past so I can’t say it’s over but I can say it’s going to be very difficult for sure.”

Meanwhile, Barisic insisted that Rangers were in good shape to take on their Glasgow rivals Celtic in a Ladbrokes Premiership game at Ibrox on Sunday despite the Leverkusen loss.

“We are 100 per cent ready for Celtic,” he said. “It’s a big game and we’re ready. It’s a huge derby and a big game for both of us. 

“I think we can take a lot from the last game against Celtic. I think in the last two games – the cup final and the last league one – we showed that we can play against them.

“Honestly, in the last game when we beat them I was sure that we were better than them. I still like to think that, but the problem is that in the second half of the season we did not start well and we lost points in places where you cannot if you are going to win the league.

"Will Celtic be nervous coming here because of the last game in the league? I don’t know. We’ll see.”

The SFA and SPFL released a statement last night revealing they are going to engage in further dialogue with the Scottish government after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon advised against holding gatherings of more than 500 people from next week.

But Barisic, who helped Rangers to win 2-1 at Parkhead in the final match before the winter shutdown in December, is hopeful the Old Firm game goes ahead with fans in attendance.

“It’s very important for us that we have the crowd with us,” he said. “One of the Leverkusen players even said to me during the game that we have a very good atmosphere here. He said I probably enjoyed it and I replied that I did.

“It’s important to give the supporters something back. Not just because of coronavirus and the situation. It is always important in every game to do that, especially in one against Celtic.

“I cannot comment on what will happen next with the league. There will be medical advice and we will see what happens.”