Steven Gerrard confusion over ‘sad’ Alfredo Morelos after Rangers win

The Colombia international threw his gloves off in frustration after being replaced by Jermain Defoe midway through the second half as Rangers moved 11 points clear in the Scottish Premiership.

Goals from Ryan Kent, Kemar Roofe, Scott Arfield and a James Tavernier penalty had Gers out of sight before the 53rd minute and Morelos was taken off with Thursday’s Europa League clash against Benfica in mind. But he did not look happy to be substituted.

“Does he ever?” Gerrard said. “I can’t work it out. We’re 4-0 up, he’s played well, his team-mate is about to come on, we’ve got a big game on Thursday.

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Alfredo why he was a bit sad. I wasn’t sad, I was very happy.”

Gerrard added: “I’m very pleased that we kept our level for 90 minutes. We could have scored even more goals, another clean sheet as well so there were a lot of positives.

“With the international break, you have players here, there and everywhere.

“As a manager, you are wondering whether the rhythm of your team is going to be affected but we came out of the blocks really strong.

“We played some incredible stuff again. Some of our movement in the final third was exceptional. We are showing that relentlessness and really executing when we get in the right places.

“We were strong from start to finish and I managed to make five changes and look after people who have been doing a lot of travel. As far as I’m concerned, I’m extremely happy.”

Rangers extended their lead over Celtic following the champions’ draw with Hibernian on Saturday.

“I look at the league table every time we play,” Gerrard said. “I’m not going to deny that. But I’ve never known a manager to get carried away in November.

“There is a lot of football to be played, a lot of challenges, a lot of big hurdles to get over. But I won’t deny I’m happy. I’d much rather be where we are of course. But stay humble.”

Aberdeen were missing eight players and manager Derek McInnes said: “We came into the game with a lot of key players missing...it didn’t feel as though we got the breaks, my players worked extremely hard despite the obvious difficulties.”

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