LET’S WHIP UP A STORM

Gerrard will rely on fans AND players to blow the Spaniards off course in Govan

IT WILL feel a long way from September’s balmy evening in the Estadio de le Ceramica when Rangers and Villarreal resume hostilities at Ibrox. Twenty-four hours after western Britain was battered by Storm Diana, heavy rain will still be whipped around Glasgow by a fresh wind. For visitors used to more tranquil conditions, Scotland’s climate promises to provide an inhospitable welcome.

Steven Gerrard fervently hopes the Spaniards’ discomfort does not end there. In pursuit of a famous win that would push Rangers to the brink of the last 32 of the Europa League, Gerrard knows his side — and those who back them — must summon up a ferocity to match the November weather.

He wants Villarreal to experience an Ibrox whirlwind.

Seeded fourth after seven years away from meaningful European football, Gerrard believes Rangers could have initially been written off by their Group G rivals. A creditable opening 2-2 draw in Spain helped to change that perception. But he remains eager to earn more than recognition.

For all their progress, defeat tonight could still send the Ibrox side out with a game to spare if Spartak Moscow beat Rapid Vienna. Hence why Gerrard hopes for every advantage available.

‘We hope Storm Diana is hanging on until 8pm!’ he grinned. ‘We want the fans to create a storm, we want the players to create a storm. We want to show Villarreal that if they are going to take anything away from here, they will have to work extremely hard for it.

‘My opinion when this group was drawn, I think Villarreal and Spartak Moscow would have been very happy getting Rangers.

‘But I think we have now earned respect in this group. What we hear coming out of the opposition camps now is that they know what they are in for.

‘That’s credit to the players, because their performances have made people respect coming here.

‘We know Villarreal are comfortable in a technical game. The idea for us is to try and take them where they don’t want to go, make it uncomfortable, try and play at a tempo and speed that maybe they are not used to every week. We know we are going to have 50,000 fans roaring us on, that will be a huge help. For us, this is a fantastic challenge and we can’t wait for it.’

A closing trip to Rapid Vienna follows early next month, with Gerrard believing four points is the minimum requirement to attain continental involvement beyond Christmas.

Rangers have lost just one of 12 European games to date — and remain unbeaten on home soil — yet the Ibrox manager is cautious about claiming to have restored the club’s standing.

‘There is a long way to where we want to get to,’ he insisted. ‘There is a lot of improvement to do, individually and collectively. We are not getting carried away.

‘We understand where we are compared to Villarreal. We know we are going to have to punch above our weight. But we have played at a level which people have respected this season in Europe and domestically at Ibrox.

‘I don’t like to use the word “fortress” for Ibrox yet, because it’s still early days. Come the end of the season, we hope we can look back on our home form and see that every single team who have come here have found it difficult.’

For that to happen, there can be no repeat of the tentative first half in that first game with Villarreal. A goal down to Carlos Bacca’s effort early on, Gerrard delivered a strong demand at the interval for his squad to show faith in their own abilities. It stirred memories of his greatest night as a player.

‘Does it annoy me when players show too much respect for the opposition? Of course — but I also understand it,’ said the former Liverpool captain. ‘I’ve experienced it myself. In one of the biggest games I ever played in, we showed the opposition too much respect.

‘AC Milan had the world’s best players in every position when we played them in that Champions League final (in 2005) — but we showed them too much respect in the first half.

‘So I’ve seen it happen many times and experienced it too many times. You can come away with regrets.

‘Luckily enough for us in Villarreal, we had 45 minutes to address it. We spoke about it at half-time but the players deserved credit for playing with more freedom in the second half.

‘We looked their equal. That’s where we want the players to take their minds back to in preparing for this game.

‘We are going to go for the win, we will be aggressive and positive and try and win the game.

‘But if that is not to be, then it is very important that we take something out of it.’

That legendary comeback in Istanbul formed a centre-point of the new documentary film —

Make Us Dream — which covers Gerrard’s time as a player.

A further offshoot of his fame arrives this week with the launch of clothing line SGG Apparel. Gerrard has already played model to some of these sartorial creations on his Instagram. He is keen to stress, however, that none of these ventures cause any distraction. His thoughts remain dominated by fashioning success for Rangers.

‘The clothes thing was all done and dusted before I came to Glasgow,’ he said. ‘I haven’t done anything since I have been in Glasgow. The majority of the film was done. The only thing I had to do was turn up for the premiere. And during most of the film, I was thinking about Rangers.

‘Anything I do off the pitch privately, my head will always be on Rangers. I won’t benefit from either thing really. The clothes thing was linked to Liverpool. I signed up for it when I was a coach at Liverpool. So I don’t get anything financially out of that.

‘Do I need a better agent? I know I do! The film was signed up for three or four years ago, but when these things launch, you have to turn up. In terms of my head being on Rangers, that’s 24/7. That’s the reason why I have these big black circles under my eyes.’

If Villarreal are going to take anything from here they must work hard