IF any Rangers midfielders are fretting about the prospect of taking on Villarreal’s Santi Cazorla this week, then they have every right to be. After all, their manager, a player who – with all due respect – was a notch or two above their own current level, didn’t exactly relish the prospect.

Steven Gerrard knows all about the difficulty of facing the playmaker from their duels at the heart of the Liverpool and Arsenal midfield in his own playing days, and the Ibrox boss is full of respect for a more than worthy opponent.

That respect is very much a two-way street, with Cazorla once describing Gerrard as “a spectacular player”, but the mutual appreciation society will be put on hold temporarily when the two face-off again in Spain on Thursday evening. After struggling to contain the silky Spaniard on the field though, he knows it will be an even tougher task from the dugout.

So, what was it like to play against Cazorla?

"Murder,” said Gerrard. “He was a top player. Very low centre of gravity, could manipulate the ball with either foot.

“I know he's had his injuries problems of late but he was a tough, tough player to play against. Not tough in terms of pressing you, getting in your face and being aggressive with you but you go near him and he'll pass it round you and he can make fun of you with either foot. He's a top, top manipulator of the ball.

“Any player who played in the best Spanish side of all time, the starting XI, deserves respect. When you’re talking about names like [Andres] Iniesta, Xavi, David Silva and [Cesc] Fabregas, he’s right in the mix with all the big hitters there, so he’s been a top footballer.

“Sometimes I did alright, others it didn’t go well against him. That’s the way it is.”

A quick glance at the final standings in La Liga last season is enough to confirm the difficulty of the task that lies ahead of Rangers as they face up to El Submarino Amarillo this week. Their fifth-placed finish behind Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Valencia is proof of their credentials.

Their comparatively poor start to this season though should give the Scottish side a glimmer of hope, picking up just one point from their opening three matches before facing Leganes this afternoon, but Gerrard isn’t reading too much into their uncharacteristically disappointing form.

"We have to gauge them with respect, they have good players, even though they haven't started the season well,” he said. “If you look in the Premier League or us, we maybe haven't got the points we deserve [either].

“It would be disrespectful if we write Villarreal off and think, 'they haven't started well, we can beat them'. We are away from home against a tough team who will be excellent technically, but we go in as underdogs and we go and see what we can do. It's a great challenge for us and a game we see as a bonus that we can go and enjoy but we're going there to try and get a result.”

Despite the realisation that Villarreal will be heavy favourites to win, Gerrard is refusing to accept that Rangers should just be happy to be mixing with such company again, even though he understands it represents a huge step forward for the club.

"It was a wonderful achievement for everyone [to get to the group stages] and the players deserve incredible praise for that, but now that we're here we don't want to just settle for being a number in the group.

“The draw was tough for us but exciting at the same time and as a manager it's my job to put belief into the players that they are capable of getting out of the group, however we do it. It's a great challenge for us and we are going to try and get out of the group.

“We have to understand the task is about to get tougher again. The technical level is going to up a notch, the standard of player and even the atmospheres are going to change. You will probably see more supporters at these games [than in the qualifiers] but in terms of my belief in my players, a lot of questions that we've been asked and a lot of hurdles and challenges that have faced us, 99 per cent of them we've done really well.”