Rangers aiming to turn up the heat on Villarreal
McLeish and his team left behind freezing conditions in Glasgow with the manager urging his players to turn up the heat on their Spanish hosts.
McLeish is well aware that Villarreal were favourites to win the tie before a ball was even kicked in the knockout stages and a 2-2 draw in the first leg at Ibrox has only strengthened their position.
Asked whether a Rangers victory would be the shock result in Europe tonight, McLeish admitted: “I think so. We’re not favourites, we realise that. We weren’t favourites before the first leg and we weren’t favourites even to get out of the group stages.
“It’s testimony to the squad, the coaches and my staff that, despite being one of the lowest-budget teams in the whole competition, they have done the club proud and it has been a fantastic achievement.
“We know it will be tough. We accept that. But it would be nice if Villarreal felt the heat because nothing is decided yet.
“It is still a draw and they will be mindful that, if we win the game, we will go through.”
Apart from the suspended Dado Prso, Rangers should be at full strength.
In tonight’s other match, Juventus coach Fabio Capello is confident the club will not have a repeat performance of last season when they take on Werder Bremen in Turin.
The Bundesliga side scored two late goals to earn a 3-2 triumph in the first- leg and that has left Juve fans fretting because it was at the same stage of last year’s competition that Liverpool ended their participation in Europe.
“I’m optimistic ahead of the return leg,” said Capello. “We respect our rivals, but we are convinced that we will progress to the next stage.”
Juve have lost just once in 28 matches while conceding just 18 goals and they have one of the best scoring records with 57 goals.
Capello is hoping Zlatan Ibrahimovic recovers from a knock while Werder’s defensive lynchpins Naldo and Frank Baumann are expected to be fit.
The Inter Milan v Ajax match takes place next Tuesday, March 14 due to the fact that AC Milan are at home tomorrow night against Bayern Munich.
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