What Russell Martin will learn from Rangers side in heat of Athens as Ibrox legend asks 'can they handle it'?
Ian Durrant reckons Wednesday's Champions League pressure pot in Athens will be the acid test of whether Russell Martin's Rangers side have the minerals to play at the top level.
The Ibrox side head to Greece with a 2-0 first leg cushion against Panathinaikos after the new boss opened his account in the best possible fashion.
But Durrant believes an even tougher evening lies in store in the Athens Olympic Stadium where the home side will be fired-up by a hostile crowd and with overhead temperatures set to sizzle into the 30s.
Martin handed competitive debuts to Joe Rothwell, Nasser Djiga, Max Aarons and goalscoring sub Djeidi Gassama in the first leg while Thelo Aasgaard could be added to the squad for the return.
And Durrant reckons 90 minutes under the microscope in the red hot atmosphere of Panathinaikos' temporary ground will tell the manager everything he needs to know about the mentality of his new-look team as they look to keep their £40m Champions League dream alive.
The 9-in-a-row hero was part of a Gers side that slumped 2-0 to AEK in the Greek capital 31 years ago. And he said: 'You'll find out a lot. How they can handle that environment, that arena.
'Not just the heat, but the massive crowd. It'll be volatile. That's what you're in these games for.
'How you handle it. You'll find a lot of these players, especially if he goes with the young ones again and plays them. Every game we'll be finding out things.
'But in that sort of environment, I think you'll find out a lot more. Can they handle it?
'Your Butlands, Taverniers, even your Rothwells, who's played at a great level, Raskin, and whoever plays up front, the spine of your team, they'll be called upon.
'They'll need to get regrouping, make sure everybody can handle it.
"Panathinaikos will be at Rangers from the first minute because they'll want to make it a game where they feel uncomfortable. It's how you handle it and how you react to things like that.'
Durrant remembers Rangers 1994 Greek tragedy all too well. Walter Smith's side crashed out of the Champions League in qualifying after losing the second leg to AEK 1-0 at Ibrox back in 1994.
That was despite big money having been spent to bring in Basile Boli and Brian Laudrup among other summer recruits.
Rangers regrouped to go and win the title. But falling at the first hurdle in Europe never came with a safety net of the Europa League qualifiers and saw Smith's side come in for heavy criticism.
Durrant, who made 346 appearances for Rangers, reckons the games arriving so early in the season add to the heat on Scottish sides.
But he insists there will be no excuses should Rangers fail to advance to a third qualifying round clash against either Servette or Viktoria Plzn - especially over the temperature.
He said: 'We shot ourselves in the foot with the goals we gave away back in 1994.
'Again, the gaffer was trying to get new players in at that time and it never clicked so early.
"Athens were better than us, simple as. Over the two legs, they were far better than us.
'Yeah, it was very warm over there, but again we'd done a pre-season. We used to do a pre-season in Italy. We sort of acclimatised to it.
'On the night, it doesn't really matter about the heat because you can get as much water in as you can. You've just got to make sure you perform against over two legs. And against AEK we were nowhere near it.'
Meanwhile, Durrant bumped into legendary boss Sir Alex Ferguson at Tuesday's first leg against Panathinaikos - and reckons the legendary Manchester United boss will have imparted some gold dust wisdom on Martin.
He said: 'I saw him, he was looking great.
'He's given the new manager a glowing response. He thinks he'll do really well, so if you're getting something off Sir Alex, he must be well thought of!
'If the manager can go and bounce things off him, there's nobody better to listen to and learn from than Sir Alex.
'I just think his presence about the club, everywhere he goes, not just here but anywhere, you just want to be a sponge and try to absorb as much as you can from him.'
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BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
Fan reaction to Scottish Premiership's opening weekend
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Scotsman
14 minutes ago
- Scotsman
6 pundits react to Tony Bloom's Hearts statement of intent as Old Firm accusation made
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Daily Record
14 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Russell Martin turns to two Rangers stars singled out as boss twists for Champions League showdown
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