Spain ace Forbals wary of Gers threat

VILLARREAL’S Spain internationalist midfielder Pablo Fornals has huge respect for Rangers ahead of their Europa League showdown this week – and insists he’s ignoring the seedings which placed the Ibrox side in the bottom pot.

Steven Gerrard’s men travel to Spain to face Villarreal on Thursday at El Madrigal after they got past four punishing rounds to get into the group stage, eliminating Shkupi, Osijek, Maribor and Ufa along the way.

Villarreal emerged from a mini-crisis at the weekend with their first win of the season when they defeated Leganes in Madrid. Previously, they had collected just one point and scored only once in their three opening La Liga games.

And Fornals believes the seeding pots mean nothing and expects Rangers to give them a tough test at their atmospheric stadium.

He said: “Rangers have a great history in football and it will be a test for us from the start, but all the games in the group will be difficult.

“They are all big clubs and it’s impossible to say who is the favourites to qualify.

“Yes, we were the first seeds and Rangers were the fourth but there’s not a big difference between the clubs and Rangers have already had some good results in the competition.

“They have experience of playing games in Europe, going to places and getting good results, so we need to make sure they don’t get another this week.

“When we play Rangers we have to have the same intensity we had on Sunday against Leganes. We can’t go into the game feeling less than 100 per cent, because Rangers are going to be a very strong, physical team and it will be tough.”