FILIP HELANDER is confident Rangers will take plenty of positives from their Europa League campaign after coming up short against Bayer Leverkusen.
Steven Gerrard’s side exited the competition at the last 16 stage on Thursday night as they went down 1-0 in Germany to lose the tie 4-1 on aggregate.
The Bundesliga giants proved too good over the two legs but the remarkable European run was a memorable one for Helander as the Swede made his return to action in the BayArena.
“I think we have learned a lot,” he told RangerTV. “We have played good opponents the whole way and they are fun games to play.
“I think we have performed well as well. We managed to win against a lot of good teams like Porto, Braga, Feyenoord.
“This task was too tough for us this time but we have enjoyed it when we look back at it.
“It is always disappointing [to go out]. We wanted to give it a real try and the performance wasn’t good enough to beat a team like this.
“But, you know, when we look back at we have done, as I said, in general very good.
“It is getting better all the time in training and obviously to get 90 minutes [on Thursday] was very good for me personally. I hope I can be ready to contribute to the team.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here