From Spain: Rangers fans ‘reputation of troublemakers’ as 3000 expected to back Steven Gerrard’s side

When English clubs travel to Spain for European ties, the media there often going way over the top about the hooligan threat.

There’ll be all kinds of warnings sent out, heavy handed tactics, and usually everything goes fine, apart from fans themselves being treated badly by the authorities.

For Rangers’ trip to Villarreal, things are even more tense, at least judging by the Spanish media. Football-wise, it’ll be interesting to see how Steven Gerrard’s side cope with the level, after another good performance at the weekend.

Lassana Coulibaly, Ryan Kent, James Tavernier and Glenn Middleton all scored as Rangers beat Dundee 4-0.

Thursday’s edition of Marca reiterates that the match has been put in the ‘high risk’ category, at least partly because of incidents said to have happened on previous Rangers European trips.

Around 3000 fans are expected to follow Steven Gerrard’s team to Spain for the Europa League match, and Marca say the Scottish Premiership club’s fans have earned themselves a ‘reputation of troublemakers’.

That should result in some strong policing for the match against Villarreal, especially because more fans are expected to travel than tickets are available for.