STEVEN GERRARD had faith that Florian Kamberi could fit into his Rangers team.
And he is delighted with the way he has settled into his Ibrox squad in recent weeks.
Kamberi made the move from Hibernian on deadline day and immediately upset the Easter Road crowd as he revealed it had been a long-held ambition to pull on the Light Blue jersey.
The Swiss-born striker had a tumultuous relationship with former Leith boss Neil Lennon before the Northern Irishman left Hibernian last year.
But Gerrard has been impressed with the way Kamberi has adapted to life at Rangers as he prepares to lead the line against Braga this evening.
He said: "It is important to say that he deserves his start in this team on merit and what he has brought and contributed since he has come in.
"We heard a lot of things about Flo before he arrived on the grapevine about the character and the boy and I must say it is completely different to what I have seen and what I have experienced in the couple of weeks he has been in the door. Ultimate professional, in great shape.
"He has asked a lot of questions from a tactical point of view so he seems like a student of the game and wants to learn and he is really enjoying being here.
"You can see that in his performances, he is playing with a smile and he has been a real breath of fresh air so all good."
Kamberi scored his first goal for Rangers in the draw with St Johnstone and earned rave reviews from his manager as he impressed off the bench.
Now it will take a selfless performance from the 24-year-old if he is to become the Gers' European hero in Portugal.
Gerrard said: "I think from a group and an individual point of view and if there is one position more than most it is probably when you are leading the line.
"He is probably going to have to chase lost causes, run behind for the team, hold the ball up for us. I have told you that he is starting by saying that haven’t I? It goes without saying that he is going to play because of the situation we are in so he is going to have to be selfless, but so are all the team.
"We are going to have to run hard for each other and we are going to have to leave everything on this pitch because we know Braga are not going to go away."
Rangers travelled to Braga with a narrow advantage after a dramatic first leg win at Ibrox last Thursday evening.
But Gerrard won't rest on his laurels or that lead as he looks to clinch a last 16 berth.
He said: “We want to come here and carry a threat, we want to come here and cause as many problems to Braga defensively as we can.
“In no way are we coming here to hold on and suffer for the majority of the game. I think it was quite clear last week we had some problems that were down to our shape and maybe individuals within our shape doing things different to what we wanted them to do.
“Once we re-grouped and reset at half-time and played as a team with the right structure that allowed us to be more of a threat and be more attacking.
“The difference between the two halves was we took our chances in the second.
“We expect that if we have the right game plan and carry it out to the best of our ability we can cause problems or create chances and then it's over to individual players to go execute."
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