Rangers were excellent in Porto last night, coming away from the Dragao with a point when they might even have nabbed all three.
The performance was markedly better than the one produced at Tynecastle just a few days previous, when structure was more or less absent and chances at a premium.
Against last season’s Champions League quarter-finalists, the Gers raised their game and showed their quality.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the display was that after working hard to gain possession, Gerrard’s players were able to retain it.
There were no hopeful punts down the pitch. It was more about working their way out of tricky situations through intelligent movement and first time passes.
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A video shared by the Glasgow Is Blue Twitter page, shows one such impressive passage of play.
After Steven Davis tracks back and makes a timely interception on the edge of his own area, he plays a one-two with Barisic, before turning and playing it back to Filip Helander. The Sweden international hits Barisic first time, who finds Ryan Jack.
Jack then plays another one-two with the left-back and moves infield to play a one-two with Kamara, before spreading the play to find Tavernier on the opposite flank.
It’s a showing of remarkable precision and confidence on the ball from the six players involved inside 10 seconds.
While such precision play isn’t always possible in the rough and tumble of the Scottish Premiership, it must be said that if the Gers can strive to reach this kind of level on a regular basis, they’ll prove difficult to beat whether in Europe or in domestic competition.