SOUTTS RACE TO FACE PANA

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- BY ANDY NEWPORT

ANDY LITTLE spent his Ibrox career cooling his heels on the bench when the big European nights came around.

But he's warned Russell Martin if he is serious about hot-footing it past Panathinaikos, he will have to consider sticking his bold passing plans for Rangers into cold storage.

The club have been handed a nightmare draw in their opening Champions League qualifier.

Not only will they have to deal with Rui Vitoria's Greek Super League runners-up, new boss Martin and his team will also be faced with soaring 30 degree-plus temperatures in Athens when they travel for the second leg in the midweek of July 29-30.

The opener at Ibrox on July 22-23 will come barely a month after the former Southampton gaffer gets to meet his team for the first time.

And Little is concerned his old side will still be getting to grips with Martin's intense possession-based blueprint when they step out into the sweatbox that is Panathinaikos' Leoforos Alexandras Stadium.

Having watched the Light Blues miss out on landing draws against Servette or SK Brann, former striker Little said: “It certainly could have been easier.

“Not only the draw but the order of the two fixtures makes it even tougher.

“Over the last number of years when Rangers have been successful in Europe, they've gone away from home, ground out an ugly 0-0 or 1-1, then they have come back to the bright lights of Ibrox and we've had these magical nights.

“That's not happening this time with the away leg second.

“It's also the first competitive game for Russell. A new manager is coming in and his first competitive game is a big, big pressure game at Ibrox

“I don't think you can go over there overly confident with just a draw from the first leg, so you have to win that opening night at Ibrox.

“Hopefully they can perform the miracles they have done over the last number of years.