John Souttar encouraged by Rangers’ defensive display in Europa League draw

John Souttar was left frustrated but encouraged by Rangers’ well-deserved 1-1 Europa League draw against Olympiacos in Greece on Thursday night.

The Light Blues were the better team from the start but passed up a couple of chances to take the lead before the interval in the noisy Georgios Karaiskakis stadium.

Jose Luis Mendilibar’s side had barely troubled Gers keeper Jack Butland but in the 56th minute they led through a strike by Moroccan forward Ayoub El Kaabi but the Light Blues responded positively and  striker Cyriel Dessers levelled eight minutes later.

Rangers have seven points from 12 with four fixtures remaining as they prepare for the visit of Hearts in the William Hill Premiership on Sunday.

Scotland defender Souttar left the ground thinking the points tally in Europe could have been more.

He said: “It’s a really difficult place to go to, and that’s a top team we played.

“They obviously won the Conference League last season, and I thought we stayed together as a team.

“We stuck to the game plan, and it’s about moments in these games, and as much as we are pleased there is a slight frustration because we thought we’d done enough for three points.

“I think we’d probably have taken one point going there, but it’s slightly frustrating but we have got to be pleased with that performance.

“I think when you go away in Europe, you need to defend as a team. I thought we did that in Malmo (won 2-0) and FCSB at home was a different performance (won 4-0).

“I’d say this was a good performance from the whole team defensively.

“To a man, midfielders,  attackers, we defend as a unit and to pick up points in this competition against top players from top teams you have to defend as a unit, and we did that on Thursday night.

“The contrast (between domestic and European football) is so different, so it’s hard to compare the two, but I think we just have to enjoy Thursday after that performance and go on to go on to Sunday and get three points.”

Rangers’ qualification prospects for the knockout stage of the Europa League are still alive.

The Govan outfit play Nice in France later in the month, then welcome Tottenham to Ibrox before facing Manchester United at Old Trafford and finishing off with the visit of Union Saint-Gilloise to Glasgow.

Souttar said: “I think we just got to take every game as it comes and if we play like we did on Thursday night, being compact, working for each other, and doing the hard yards, and then taking our taking our moments, we will be fine.

“It’s what we should aim to do every game – stay as a unit, be compact and be difficult to beat, especially these games away from home in Europe, playing top teams.

“They’re going to have moments, it’s important everyone stays together, and that’s what we did on Thursday night.”