Nedim Bajrami: Performance against Steaua sets the standard for Rangers

Rangers midfielder Nedim Bajrami feels his side set a standard they can aspire to in every game as they thumped Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League.

Vaclav Cerny scored twice in the 4-0 win, with Tom Lawrence and Hamza Igamane also on the scoresheet as Rangers took three valuable points and showed an immediate response to their bruising defeat at Kilmarnock last weekend.

Bajrami believes the performance was one to be proud of but also says it’s a level the players will aim to hit as they fight to be successful in league, cup and in European competition over the weeks to come.

“This has to be the standard,” he said. “But we have to think game by game because we have a lot of games now and everyone has to be ready, every player.

“We have to play every game higher and higher and to try to win every game.”

Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Rugby Park left the Rangers support directing their anger at the players and at manager Philippe Clement. Bajrami said the reaction had been evident against Steaua and showed the team’s backing for the boss.

“When you lose, everyone speaks bad about you,” he said. “When you win everyone speaks good.

“We don’t need to read the newspapers. Today, we showed a big correction and that was important for us, for the coach and for the fans.”

The Albanian didn’t want to directly blame the playing surface at Kilmarnock but said that on home turf Rangers had upped their game and demonstrated their hunger to put things right.

“In football there are no excuses, but the pitch there was a difficult pitch for us,” he said.

“Back home at Ibrox we showed that we have a lot of qualities, even with young players.

“As I said before we showed a big reaction, everyone was doing a high press, aggressive. We won the duels and in front of the goal we took our chances.

“So no matter who scores, it’s important that we won and we showed the reaction.”