STEVEN Gerrard last night spoke of his pride at Rangers stunning second-half comeback in their thrilling Europa League last 32 victory over Royal Antwerp in Belgium.

The Ibrox club came from 2-1 and 3-2 down to triumph 4-3 in the first leg match in the Bosuilstadion thanks to a last-minute Borna Barisic penalty.

The win gives the Premiership leaders, who made it through to the last 16 of the competition last season, a great chance to progress to the next round.

Liverpool and England great Gerrard was delighted with how his charges performed after both James Tavernier and Kemar Roofe had limped off injury and pleased with the final result.

However, he was unhappy with the soft goals that Rangers conceded and stressed they will have to perform better at the back if they want to go further in the continental competition.   

“We came here with respect for the opposition,” he said. “We knew if we didn’t defend well we could have had issues and we did. 

“For sure, next week we need to defend better to a man across the pitch. If we can do that, I’ve got confidence and belief we can go and finish the job off.  

“There was too much action, too much we didn’t get right, to get too carried away tonight.  

“We’ve put ourselves in a promising position and it’s very difficult to win away from home. 

“So there’s a lot of me that’s pleased and proud but there’s still things going around in my head about needing to improve defensively. 

“It took time for us to get back used to the European level again, with all due respect, and I think that showed in our performance.” 

Gerrard’s team had a soft penalty awarded against them in the first-half in Antwerp after a VAR review and then were given a spot kick after the match official had watched a replay of an incident.

“Listen, it’s different,” he said. “It’s something I’d have to adapt to if it came into our domestic game. It is what it is. People have to deal with it every single game. I don’t envy them. 

“Sometimes things go for you and sometimes they don’t. I think Steven Davis probably gets away with his penalty if there’s no VAR. It’s definitely a VAR type of penalty, but then we have obviously benefited from it ourselves. 

“We’ll try and adapt to it, but it is different. I like to get carried away when we score goals and I’m a little bit hesitant. 

“When there is set-piece around the area, you are thinking: ‘Here we go, this could be a VAR situation.” 

“It doesn’t help the anxiety levels. If we had that every single week and we defend like that, I think I’d be going in an early casket.”