Rangers manager Steven Gerrard praised his hard-working side after they reached the group stage of the Europa League and said he wouldn't criticise the duo whose red cards made the 1-1 draw with Ufa a tense encounter.

Ovie Ejaria had given Rangers an early lead in Russia but Alfredo Morelos picked up two bookings in a matter of seconds to be dismissed after half an hour, while a second yellow card for Jon Flanagan left just nine players to defend their aggregate advantage for 25 minutes.

However, the side hung on with an impressive defensive display to ensure that they are in Friday's draws with some of Europe's big names and can look forward to at least six more big nights this year.

Gerrard said he wouldn't be too hard on the duo given their contributions to the run but that he expected them to acknowledge how hard they made it for their colleagues.

"I'm not going to sit here and criticise the two red cards because those two players have helped us very much since I came in the door," he said. "We go up together and we go down together.

"I'm sure Jon and Alfredo will apologise to their team-mates but in terms of the nine men who were there from start to finish, I haven't got words to describe them."

Morelos was booked for kicking the ball away but was quickly shown a second card for showing dissent after the decision. Gerrard felt the striker may have been unlucky to see red but cautioned that he would have to learn from the experience.

"Alfredo is an incredible footballer but he's still a young footballer and I think it helps him that I've been a young footballer, someone who has made mistakes myself," he said.

"The important thing is to learn, but to learn as quick as you can. The same goes for Jon, he's more experienced but should know better.

"But players don't make mistakes on purpose. Sometimes the decisions were harsh and I thought in Alfredo's case the decision was very harsh, so I feel for him.

"I've said before I love the player and I love the person but at the same time all my players need to learn quick that when you come away in Europe sometimes the decisions are not the same as domestically and we have to find some discipline because as a group ours hasn't been good enough so far."