Steven Gerrard says 'fear and panic' reason for Rangers crashing out of Champions League

Scottish champions lose qualifier to Sweden's Malmo 4-2 on aggregate

Rangers head coach Steven Gerrard during the Champions League qualifier against Malmo.

Steven Gerrard believes fear and panic led to Rangers bowing out of their Champions League qualifier to Malmo at Ibrox.

Rangers trailed 2-1 from the first leg but an 18th-minute strike from Colombia striker Alfredo Morelos levelled the tie on Tuesday. They looked to be in control of the tie following a red card to Malmo midfielder Bonke Innocent just before the break.

However, two stunning goals from Malmo striker Antonio Colak early in the second half gave the Swedish side a 4-2 aggregate victory and inflicted a third defeat in a row for the Scottish champions.

“We have tried to keep the heat on after being 2-1 down," Gerrard told Premier Sports.

“You have to try different things, a bit of fear and a bit of panic sets in.

“We started playing hopeful balls into the box instead of trying to stay calm and play through.

“The reality is we have lost three games out of four and that is not good enough at Rangers. We are well aware of that. We now have to pick ourselves up and regroup.

“The most frustrating thing is we lost the second half 2-0 to 10 men.

“Defensively from the restart we were poor. There is no way to dress that up. We need to be better in those situations."