Villarreal ace Miguel calls on Ibrox misfits for tips on Light Blues
VILLARREAL’S Mexican midfielder Miguel Layun has revealed he will turn to Rangers loan misfits Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera for information about Steven Gerrard’s side ahead of tomorrow’s Europa League showdown.
The Ibrox side travel to Spain for the opening game in the group stage and face a daunting challenge in El Madrigal.
Villarreal were boosted by their weekend win in Madrid against Leganes – their first of the season after a poor start in La Liga.
Mexico internationalist Layun is one of Villarreal’s key players with the former Watford and Porto star amassing 67 caps for his country.
He’s expecting Gerrard’s side to give them a tough challenge, but admits he is lacking in knowledge on Rangers’ new-look side.
And he will phone two players still on the Ibrox payroll to garner as much information as he can about Rangers.
Pena is currently on his second loan away from Ibrox at Necaxa and Herrera is at Santos Laguna. Both were massive disappointments after being brought to Scotland by flop Portuguese boss Pedro Caixinha, who is now managing Mexico City side Cruz Azul.
And now Layun will attempt to prise all he can from the pair ahead week’s clash.
Layun said: “I know Rangers had a couple of Mexican players in their team – Eduardo Herrera and Carlos Pena.
“So this week I will phone them and ask about the team. They will be able to tell me about what the club is like even though they have changed a few players recently.
“All our focus is on this because it is important we get off to a good start. If we get good results in the Europa League it will hopefully benefit our league form as well.
“I think Rangers are a team from the highest level. I am expecting one of our most difficult games all season.
“We are anticipating a very physical game and it’s so important because it’s our first Europa League match of the group.
“We want to start well but we will have to be focused and we know we will have to be at our best to win.”
And although Layun admits his knowledge of Steven Gerrard’s team is sketchy, he’s certain a side managed by the Liverpool icon will be decent.
He said: “I watched an interview with Steven Gerrard recently and he was very impressive.
“At this moment I don’t know a lot about individual Rangers players, but that will change this week when we watch their videos and look at them more closely.” of this