Rangers' George Edmundson and Jordan Jones to face Scottish FA hearing on November 19
Ibrox club address players after Jones and Edmundson attend gathering with people outside their household; Steven Gerrard: "We've been working ever so hard to make sure we are covering all bases and educating all the players. That was reiterated once more again this morning."
Wednesday 4 November 2020 23:32, UK
Rangers players George Edmundson and Jordan Jones have been cited by the Scottish FA after breaching coronavirus protocols.
The pair were suspended by the Ibrox side on Tuesday having attended a private gathering at the weekend with people from outside their household.
They are currently isolating for 14 days as their club conducts an internal investigation which could result in further punishment, with an SFA hearing now also set for November 19.
Gerrard, speaking ahead of his team's Europa League tie against Benfica, said: "We've been working ever so hard at Rangers to make sure we are covering all bases and educating all the players.
"That was reiterated once more again this morning and we move on and look forward to the game now."
Gerrard's team have travelled looking to build on a perfect start to their Group D campaign so far, which has brought them a 2-0 win at Standard Liege and a 1-0 success against Lech Poznan.
Indeed, they remain unbeaten in 18 competitive games overall, keeping clean sheets in all bar three of them and conceding just four goals in a run of 16 victories.
Rangers will feel confident of another positive result in Portugal, having drawn 1-1 there with Porto then beaten Braga 1-0 last season.
Gerrard added: "In terms of our experience here last season, we can certainly tap into that and try to use it to take confidence and belief going into the game.
"But it's a different challenge and a different team. Benfica have started the strongest of the Portuguese teams this season.
"It's a huge challenge, a big challenge - and for sure, we're going to have to try to find a performance that's at the level we were at in Porto and Braga to have any chance.
"It's a world-class stadium, a fantastic place to play and the pitch is in great shape. These are the places where you want to come and play.
"We're gutted it's not going to be a full house because it's a wonderful place to play football but we just have to get on with it. It's a fantastic place to test ourselves.
"Benfica are littered with superstars who are worth a lot of money but that gets the juices flowing and it makes us want to get a positive result even more.
"The players are looking forward to this game. We've started the group stage very well and we want to try to build on that with a positive result."
