RYAN Kent helped fire Rangers into the last 16 of the Europa League for the second year running with an emphatic 5-2 triumph over Royal Antwerp at Ibrox tonight - and then revealed he wants to go all the way in the competition and is ready to take on any opponent.
The winger netted a second-half goal against the Belgian club and Alfredo Morelos, Nathan Patterson, Borna Barisic and Cedric Itten all got their names on the scoresheet as well as Steven Gerrard’s team racked up an incredible 9-5 aggregate twin.
The runaway Premiership leaders could find themselves pitted against some of Europe’s biggest clubs in the draw in Monaco tomorrow afternoon – Spurs, Arsenal, Villarreal and Shakhtar Donetsk are among their potential opponents.
But Kent feels Rangers are better placed to progress to the latter rounds than they were 12 months ago when they lost to Bayer Leverkusen of Germany over two legs and is confident they can remain involved.
Asked to sum up his emotions by BT Sport after the seven goal thriller, Kent said: “A bit mixed. Obviously we wanted to go into this game with a clean sheet because we knew we would progress by doing so. But I think we were ruthless in the final third and it was great to come away with so many goals.
“We entered the game with a lot of energy, we knew we could catch them on the counter attack, espeically with the front three we have got, Ianis (Hagi) and Buff (Morelos) providing opportunities as always. We were ruthless.
"It’s great. From the start of this season it was our aim to build chemistry in every department, in every area of the pitch. There was a lot of emphasis on the front three to create a lot of opportunities in games and more emphasis to put them away. It was very pleasing.
“In recent weeks I have probably been disappointed in the final third. I have been getting into good areas, but the end product has just not been there. But in the past couple of games I have been able to put them away so I am really happy with that.
“I never lack confidence going into a game. I know I am always going to create chances and get myself in one on one situations. I have probably just been lacking concentration in front of goal. When that is there it is a bonus.”
Kent added: “I said at the start of the season that we entered this competition with ambitions and goals – that is to get further than we did last season. We are not here just to take part in the competition. We want to compete right to the very end. Hopefully we will learn from last season and go even further.
“We work hard on the training pitch to make sure we are very disciplined in all areas. Everyone runs hard for each other, filling spaces when somebody is out of position. You can see we have got a solid back four, we have got people coming in who can fill big shoes as well. It is great.”
Asked who he wanted in the draw, Kent said: “I would take anybody. Why not?”
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