McLeish urges players to savour occasion against Villarreal

RANGERS manager Alex McLeish has told his players they are on the verge of one of the biggest games in their career - and has urged them to relish every moment.

It has been a difficult season for a team which won the Scottish League in the most dramatic of circumstances last term, but now find themselves facing a battle just to finish second.

They are also dealing with the news that their manager will no longer be at the club come the end of the current campaign. But, despite all the problems, Rangers have defied the odds to achieve the goal which had eluded them for so long - success in Europe.

They came through a group which included Inter Milan, Porto and Artmedia Bratislava to join the elite of European football in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

And their prize is a last-16 tie with Villarreal during which McLeish believes more cherished memories can be made. “It’s an opportunity, it’s a challenge and it’s got to be one of the greatest challenges of the players’ lives,” said McLeish ahead of the first leg tonight at Ibrox.

“Many of them are experiencing this stage for the first time in their careers. Hopefully they will look back in years to come with great memories.”

McLeish will leave Rangers after four and a half years at the Ibrox helm and admits he will savour the tie just as much as his players. He added: “Without a doubt. It’s one that I relish and I’m sure if I was sitting at home, not being involved, I would be very jealous of the manager who was involved.

“It’s very exciting that I’m there and able to take the team into the last 16 of the Champions League. We’re not here to make up the numbers. We have surprised people in the group stage.

“We’re not favourites, Villarreal are, and therefore there’s maybe more pressure on them. This is something to absolutely relish and that’s the way I’m going to approach it.”

Rangers are the first Scottish club to progress from the group stage to the knockout phase and no matter what happens against Villarreal over the two legs, McLeish insists his players deserve credit just for making it this far.

He said: “They have already achieved something by getting to the last 16 and that means they must have been doing something right. We played eight games in the group stage and lost one to a deflected goal in Milan so the players have shown they are capable of upsetting the odds and we hope we can upset them again.”

However, McLeish is under no illusions about the task that lies ahead. Villarreal topped a group which included Man United, Lille and Benfica, conceding just one goal, but McLeish believes there are chinks in their armour which can be exploited.

“Their record speaks for itself,” he said. “It makes it very tough for us but we have watched a lot of their games and we hope that we can capitalise on one or two things that we’ve seen.

“Reading Manuel Pellegrini’s quotes over the weekend, they want to impose themselves on the tie. We’ve got to be mindful of the type of football they play and we have to try to stop them playing the football that they enjoy playing.”

And, just to make the tie more interesting, Juan Roman Riquelme looks set to win his fitness battle. McLeish said “I read the coach’s comments and he said his technical expertise far outweighs the fact that he’s lacking in fitness. So we’ve got to prepare for Riquelme being on the pitch.”