IT IS all very well saying that Rangers are only one win away from arguably the greatest European achievement by a Scottish club in almost two decades. By the same token, we are all only one lottery ticket away from being millionaires.
Logic and reason must be suspended to construct a compelling case as to why Alex McLeish's men might beat Villarreal at the Madrigal Stadium in two days' time to reach the Champions League quarter-finals. Assuming we discount a 3-3 or higher score dr
aw, Rangers need a victory to cancel out the 2-2 first-leg result. In the past five months, despite erratic league form, until yesterday only Barcelona had defeated Manuel Pellegrini's side within their own environs. Indeed, that victory for the Catalans is one of only four reverses Villarreal have suffered at home in nearly two seasons competing in the strongest league in the world and the latter stages of European competition, a period during which they have remained unbeaten in all seven of their games against British sides.
Not since beating Monaco in September 2000 have Rangers won away in the Champions League proper. Furthermore, victory on Tuesday would eclipse any achieved by the Ibrox club on foreign soil since a 3-2 success over PSV Eindhoven in November 1978, and mark a first win in eight attempts in Spain. "We just have to use that poor record as an inspiration," McLeish says.
There is no shortage of poor records that Rangers could use as inspirations. They have yet to keep a clean sheet in seven Champions League matches and have won only once in that time. And while it is popular to suggest that the Ibrox club's European form has been in stark contrast to how they have performed domestically, that is overly simplistic. Yes, Rangers have three times recovered from going a goal down to draw in Europe, while never doing so in nine games on the home front, but they betrayed a brittleness in the draws with Artmedia Bratislava, home and away. And the Ibrox win over Porto was decidedly charmed.
Rangers' situation is similar to that Celtic found themselves in when bidding to reach UEFA Cup semi-finals two years ago. Despite being outplayed as Juan Roman Riquelme orchestrated a footballing symphony in Glasgow, Martin O'Neill's side took a draw to the Madrigal Stadium. The hype then hit overdrive about how they could succeed, centring on the precedents in their run to the UEFA Cup final the year before, and a just-ended record 25 straight league wins. That night Celtic created nary a single scare for the home side, who effortlessly closed out a 2-0 win.
Yet, although absolutely everything points to McLeish's men simply not being good enough to pull a rabbit the size of Harvey out of the hat at the Madrigal, why is there such an unwillingness to count them out completely? Is it simply because football has an amazing capacity for producing the unexpected, as Lord knows supporters of Celtic and followers of the Greek national team have indelibly etched on their minds. There is a strong sense of that, yes, but it doesn't serve as the entire explanation.
So unencumbered by expectation are Rangers, they should be able to play with a rare freedom on Tuesday. That could just unsettle opponents who might be left in two minds about whether to sit on their advantage or seek to press it home. "It is an awkward one for them," McLeish says. "It is a great result for them to get two goals away from home and they start favourites. But they were favourites before a ball was kicked and we are not going over there without belief."
Adversity may strengthen conviction for Rangers, indeed. With Dado Prso's ban they surely have no option but to string five across the midfield and leave Peter Lovenkrands as a solitary spearhead. That would allow for pace and strength in equal measure. Lovenkrands, Chris Burke and Thomas Buffel all offer fleetness of foot and drive. But a 4-5-1 formation, in which Brahim Hemdani, Hamed Namouchi and even Barry Ferguson are able to buffet and deny space to Juan Roman Riquelme, potentially offers Rangers a balance they have rarely possessed this season.
That is true not merely in terms of configuration. While the experience of Hemdani, Julien Rodriguez and Ferguson is important to McLeish, the impudence of youth could prove as telling. In the first leg, Burke took the batterings and just kept bounding forward in mesmerising corkscrew fashion; the 22-year-old winger's performance a declaration that he is in no doubt his time has arrived. Full-backs Alan Hutton and Steven Smith, meanwhile, displayed a genuine sense of belonging on an exalted stage.
"In the last game I asked the young players to show leadership qualities and not just look to other player to see them through," McLeish says. "Consider the substitutes we made in Porto. Burkey and Ross McCormack burst on to the pitch. You could see they were thinking: 'I'm on here to make an impact'. I thought that was brilliant. The body language spoke of total belief that they could go on and do something. That is leadership and it spreads through the team. There is then not as much of a burden on one or two players as they all begin to trust one another."
In his pre-Ibrox assessment of Rangers, Villarreal chief scout Javier Cabello trusted that Burke would make an impact. "Burkey gave a tremendously mature performance and the report was definitely well founded," states McLeish. "He has worked on his all-round game and become more of a team player. I think there were times when the strikers didn't know when he was going to release it but he is building all the time."
McLeish says he has received "loads of free advice from people with no responsibility, I might add," on how to build a winning score in midweek. Assistant Andy Watson last night watched Villarreal at home to Alaves. After that will come "the final adjustments", with tactics talked "Monday night into Tuesday" according to the Rangers manager. Decisions on that front perceived as curious are what undermined the Ibrox legions' faith in a man who will step down in the summer. Some will probably grumble over McLeish admitting that there is unlikely to be special plan to deal with Riquelme - the spring, mechanism, hands and seemingly all else in the Villarreal timepiece.
"You could think about man-marking tactics and making it 10 against 10, but that is easier said than done," McLeish states. "It is never really something I am comfortable with and it isn't something we have discussed at any great length. I watched the game at Goodison and Everton played four at the back and Gary Neville in front to keep an eye on Riquelme. Villarreal pretty much controlled that game. Away, Everton played an orthodox 4-4-2 and were unlucky in the second half, Duncan Ferguson having a perfectly good goal disallowed.
"I'm not saying Villarreal didn't have their chances on the night but the second half was pretty uncomfortable. Riquelme was still outstanding, and did one or two things that were genius. Players like that have a sixth sense; it's just natural. But we have tried the man-marking stuff before and come undone and I don't see why we should change our tactics."
If Rangers somehow do make it in the Madrigal, they would entirely change perceptions of their bizarre journey into uncharted territory. Although unprecedented by a Scottish club, it hasn't really provided any evenings to purr over, as Celtic's progress to the UEFA Cup final did time and again. The Seville experience was a consequence of O'Neill's men failing in the Champions League, however. If the Ibrox side reach the last eight of football's most prestigious club competition, it would probably carry greater weight beyond these borders than Celtic's 2003 adventure. "It is difficult to compare," McLeish says. "Everyone looks for visual proof of a trophy before they talk about success, so it is a wee bit difficult to say 'aw, that is success getting to the last 16' or 'that is success getting to the last eight'. It has just never been done before. We entered the competition knowing we were probably one of the lowest-budget squads, and certainly have the lowest budget of the last 16. So we can pat ourselves on the back over what has been achieved with those facts."
