Barry Ferguson delighted to reach Europa League quarters on penalties after 2-0 Fenerbahce defeat

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Barry Ferguson delighted to reach Europa League quarters on penalties after 2-0 Fenerbahce defeat  13/03/2025  uefa25

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00:00We'll start with Liam. Does it feel like you've been on a roller coaster tonight?

00:14Yeah, one of the longest roller coasters you'll ever get. Where do I start? I actually thought

00:23we played well, if I'm being honest with you. I think just watching back there, the two

00:26goals we can do better. But one thing I've got to say about my group of players is, it's

00:32something that's been labelled against them as a showed character. It's easy to go and

00:40feel sorry for yourself, but they kept going and took it into extra time. And obviously

00:45you get into the penalty situation and I thought we handled that very well. Jaco obviously

00:51making some brilliant saves. Giannis is a bit disappointed in there, missing his penalty,

00:57but listen, that's party football. But the main objective was to make sure I got this

01:04club into the last eight and that's something that we've done.

01:08There was quite a lot of adversity out there in the game, not least the final score on

01:12the scoreboard after extra time. But there felt like a real togetherness from the crowd

01:18to the squad itself. Did you feel that way?

01:21Yeah, that's something that since we've been in just over two weeks that we've tried to

01:26change. It's a group of players when we come in that are well short of confidence. There

01:33was no doubt about that. So that's something that we've worked on over the last couple

01:38of weeks. And I thought tonight, I've got to give the supporters a mention, I thought

01:42they stuck with the team right to the very end and the atmosphere was absolute electric

01:48at times.

01:49Barry, you've had some big nights at this football club. Can you just sum up what that

01:53means to you personally to take Rangers into the quarter-finals of the Europa League?

01:57Yeah, I've said this many a times, I'm proud. Listen, to play with the club and then captain

02:06the club was obviously a boyhood dream. But to stand on the sidelines and lead the team

02:13that I grew up supporting as a boy is an amazing feeling. But listen, when I get appointed,

02:21I know there's a lot of people who say that I wasn't qualified or I wasn't the right guy

02:27for the job. That just makes me even more determined. So look, I'm coming in here to

02:34do as best as I can for this three month. I'm going to give it everything. And one thing

02:39you're seeing, certainly for the players, is they're digging deep for me and that's

02:43all I'll ask them. Because I know there's good players, I know there's good footballers

02:47in there. They just need a bit of guidance and to understand what it means to play for

02:54this club. And now I think it's starting to hit home and I thought tonight's performance

02:59in terms of, obviously the result wasn't great, but I just thought the way that they

03:05carried themselves, they didn't feel sorry for themselves. They kept going to the very

03:10end to take it into penalties and obviously we come through the penalty situation. So

03:16just absolutely delighted for the players, for the board of directors and most importantly

03:22for the supporters because they're going to get another brilliant away day in Europe.

03:27Barry, obviously you're through to the last eight now. I mean, what chance do you give

03:32your team of actually going all the way? Do you believe that this is a team that's capable

03:35of going to the final again?

03:37Andy, I'm not even thinking about that. Do you know, as soon as I ran on the park and

03:41tried to jump on Jack Butland, I was just concerned about Sunday and who's going to

03:44be walking through the training centre in half decent condition. That's all I'm thinking

03:52just now. We'll take care of that situation after we play a few games before that. But

03:58look, the most important thing for me was, I spoke to the staff, I spoke to the players,

04:03was to make sure that we get into the last eight because it gets a couple of pounds for

04:07the club, but also it gives my group of players to go and showcase their talents against really

04:16top opposition.

04:18I suppose as well, if you'd have lost tonight, the season's not got much left to play for.

04:23Now you've got something to keep the guys marching forward, something to aim for for

04:26the next few months, next few weeks.

04:29Yeah, I get that the league's, in terms of points, we're obviously 16 points behind Celtic,

04:37but there's still a lot to play for in my opinion. You need to go and show what it means

04:42to play at this club. And listen, Europe, it's a long shot in terms of getting to the

04:49final, but we're going to give it our best shot. And in terms of the league games that

04:53are going to be coming up, we need to go and show that we're more than capable of making

04:59challenges every single season.

05:02Barry, do you think that, for anyone who grew up following Rangers, even in the 80s and

05:0790s, European success like this wasn't regular. Do you think maybe because things haven't

05:13been going well domestically that there's maybe a lack of appreciation for the fact

05:18that this is a Scottish team in a major European quarter-final? It's quite a remarkable achievement.

05:23Yeah, it is. And listen, I've played in Europe plenty of times, and it's tough to play because

05:29you're coming up against top opposition, top players, top managers, and the boys have done

05:35ever so well. And listen, don't underestimate what happened tonight. We came up against

05:41a top team in Fernabaci. They've got players. You've seen it tonight, and you've seen it

05:47not as much, obviously, last Thursday, but I knew after the game last Thursday that this

05:52was no way finished and a done deal. We had to go and make sure that we kind of stuck

05:58to our game plan. Did it work? I thought it could have been better. That's why I kind

06:04of changed the shape and I made a couple of changes. But I've spoken to you about this

06:08before. I've been at every single Rangers game this season. One thing about this Rangers

06:12team is it's not been flexible enough. So we can change that within a game. And that's

06:17only a couple of weeks, probably a maximum of five days in a training on the grass. So

06:23I've got to give the boys credit for taking all the information in because sometimes you

06:27can overload them with information. And I've tried to just kind of seep things in. But

06:32I just thought, sitting with my staff last week, I had to make a decision because it

06:36wasn't going well with the formation we're playing, 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, whatever you like.

06:41I didn't feel it was the way to go forward at times. We changed that to a back three.

06:48We started with a back three tonight, but I sensed after that, just to flip it a wee

06:53bit and make them think a wee bit more, we went to a 4-2-3-1. So I think it's important

07:00that we are flexible. But in terms of Europe, the players I know, and I think they'll be

07:06man enough to admit domestically, it's not been good enough. I'm not going to sit here

07:11and kid them. It's been way off it. But in terms of Europe, it's been really good. But

07:16we need to transfer that into the league game. So I think we've done decent work, but we

07:27can do a lot more. And that's what we'll certainly do in the coming months.

07:32After everything that's happened in the last few home games, when it went to 2-0 tonight,

07:38what was going through your head that made you believe the players could find a way to

07:43come out of this?

07:45Well, I've spoke to them the last three days about this. It's easy to feel sorry for you

07:52and the fans. Listen, the Rangers fans are brilliant supporters, but they demand of you

07:58and you've got to handle that kind of pressure. And I don't think we've handled that pretty

08:02well. And that was a challenge I put to them. I said, look, it could be the case if you

08:07go a goal down, even two, which happened tonight. But one thing they showed is character. And

08:14I said to them, maybe some people will now start to think these guys have got something

08:19about them. And that was one of my objectives when I came in, to take the job. Obviously

08:25I'd mentioned earlier that I've been to all the games this season. And that was something

08:31when I was watching the Rangers, fine when they go ahead, but when something goes against

08:35them, they go into their shell a wee bit. But certainly tonight they didn't. They kept

08:40driving on, they kept running themselves into the ground. And we took it into, obviously,

08:46extra time, then penalties. And we showed a bit of metal. That's what we did.

08:51Last couple, please.

08:52Barry, as the game was drifting on to penalties, did your mind drift back to Florence and how

08:58Walter prepared you guys for that penalty shootout against Fiorentina?

09:02Are you talking about my penalty?

09:04No, your penalty. Not specifically.

09:06All right. I know a few people have already mentioned that.

09:09How he handled it, because it's a pressure situation.

09:13Do you know what I've done? I made the players make the decision who was taking the penalties.

09:18I got them in. I said, who feels confident, yous make the decision. I feel that was the

09:26best way to go forward. They decided what was happening and they went up and obviously

09:31took good penalties. Janis was good. He's disappointed, which I like, that he's missed.

09:38But listen, it's part of the game. But I thought the other guys who stepped up, slotted their

09:42penalties away really well. But in terms of penalties saved, I thought Jack Buckland.

09:50Delighted for him. Again, I've known him since a young boy. He was at Birmingham when I was

09:55there. I could see the potential and how good he was going to be. He's come up here and

10:00he's took a bit of flak. And I think unfair at times, he showed his qualities tonight.

10:06Barry, how would you sum up your captain's performance tonight?

10:10He's been a man since I've come in. There's a lot of clamour. Change him. There was no

10:17way I was changing him after I spoke to him. On a Monday night when everything was agreed

10:21by myself to come in, I looked him in the eyes and I knew he was the guy to lead this

10:28club. When I was in charge, and obviously I'm going to be in charge for three months,

10:33I think since I've took over, he's been a leader. I think you've seen that tonight.

10:40He was driving his players on, his team-mates on, and that's what I want to see from a

10:44captain. But he's been certainly captain material since I've taken over this job.

10:48A word on Bilbao, the challenge that awaits?

10:52Honestly, I just want to go home, have a wee nightcap, wake up. When my eyes open in the

11:00morning and I need to focus on Sunday, I'm not even thinking about the next game against Bilbao.

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