Nico Raskin's harsh Rangers verdict as reborn star names teammate he loves to play with

Ask any Rangers fan and they would pick out Nicolas Raskin as one of the best players on the pitch against Olympiacos.

But the driven midfielder insists he must do even better if he's to reach the lofty standards he sets himself. Raskin has seized his big chance after being brought out of cold storage last month and thrust back into Philippe Clement's midfield. It's early days but the Belgian is already beginning to form a promising partnership with sidekick Connor Barron after being utilised in his preferred defensive role.

Raskin was arguably the standout performer as Gers earned a precious point in Greece to move a step closer to the Europa League knockouts, with the much-maligned Cyriel Dessers snatching a deserved equaliser. Raskin won the most tackles and made the most interceptions during an all-action night in the middle of the park but incredibly, the 23-year-old was far from satisfied with his display.

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Asked if he was happy with his performance, Raskin said: "Not really. I think first-half I had some difficulty to get into the game. I think I'm still a bit tired because I've not been playing a lot and I've just played five game in a row for 90 minutes. I feel it so maybe I need to look at doing something even harder in my warm-up to get my second breath earlier.

"But overall, I'm happy for the team and happy for Cyriel that he scored the goal. He's working so hard for the team defensively. When you look at the game, we wanted to win but coming here and taking one point, it's a good result. I have a long way to go. I think especially first-half I was sometimes too quick with the ball.

"I should've maybe taken a bit more time. There was space to play but you don't want to make a mistake that costs the goal, especially early so you need to be more careful. But I'm still happy with the performance, especially second-half. I'm happy for the team, it was a great night to be fair."

While Raskin believes he can still take his game to another level, the ex-Standard Liege star is loving playing alongside summer signing Barron in his favoured role. He said: "I'm happy to play as a six, that's why the club bought me at the time. Then, I had some spells as an eight. I should've done better, but I'm happy to play now as a six.

"I think my collaboration with Connor is good. We love to work together, to get the ball back for the team. We had a good spell with Tom, now Dio has come in and you can see he is a great player. I think we've got loads of good players in the midfield so we can only look forward and improve all together to enjoy games like that.

"If you ask me, I love to play as a six to help defensively and try and give the ball to my ten, eight or the winger. But like I say in football, you have to play wherever the team needs you. I try my best to every time, I know it's not been perfect but I try to give my best. Then you have a game like that you can enjoy, now it's time to recover because we've got another important game on Sunday."