[Domains4u]

Alex McLeish believes Rangers are more than capable of causing more shocks in the Champions League after being paired with Villarreal in the knockout stages.


The Scottish champions avoided some of Europe's top names, as well as a Battle of Britain clash with Arsenal or Liverpool, when the draw was made in Nyon on Friday.


Ibrox boss McLeish believes eyebrows were raised when Rangers became the first Scottish club to progress from the group stages into the last 16 of the Champions League.


And he insists they now have a great chance of causing a real upset by progressing even further in the tournament.


McLeish refuses to underestimate the threat of Villarreal but he knows his team has a more realistic chance against the Spanish club than they would have had against Barcelona or AC Milan.


"We've upset the odds already by getting through to the last 16 and we will look to upset the odds again," he said.


"We could get knocked out by Villarreal and people will be saying we could have had Barcelona just for the extra glamour if we were going to get knocked out the competition but, believe me, other teams will be glad just to have avoided Villarreal.


"But we've got an opportunity, as we were given no chance of going through against Inter Milan and Porto and we took points from both of them.


"So we've got every chance of making some sort of impact in this tie."


Even so, McLeish knows Rangers are one of the surprise packages in the Champions League this year and he reckons Villarreal will also be celebrating the draw.


He added: "We've kept away from the real giants but Villarreal are a very good side.


"I think they'll be pleased with the draw and a lot of bigger sides will be glad to have avoided Villarreal.


"Believe me, this is a good side and they finished top of Manchester United's group.


"Villarreal have been together for a few years now and they're a very fluent passing side with some terrific players in the team."


Villarreal have left two English clubs in their wake to make it this far in the competition.


They disposed of Everton in the qualifying rounds, before earning two goalless draws against Manchester United, helping them to top the group, while the Barclays Premiership side finished bottom of the pile.


Even so, McLeish is likely to make phonecalls to both David Moyes and his mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson, when doing his homework on the Primera Liga side.


He said: "We know plenty about them and we will have to see them in the flesh as well.


"I could also phone Davie Moyes as Everton played them in the qualifiers."

[Daz]

i cant see them knocking out Villareal at all.

Rangers only just about got through i cant see them progessing much further.

[THFCWoolley]

To be fair this is one of the best draws they could hope for. Apart from a couple of others, this is one of the most winnable ties and they should go into the game with a fair shout.

The win over Hearts at the weekend will be no confidence damager either.

[Horse_Bwfc]

I just dont see Rangers as a big enough force, yeah fair enough they could have got much tougher games then villareal but .. Rangers just dont have enough big name players who can come across as a threat

[The Lord]

NO CHANCE!!

Simple as that really!

[Horse_Bwfc]

Well said