Rangers are on the verge of club history tonight should they avoid defeat in Russia. With the Rangers record of unbeaten European fixtures sitting at 12, Rangers’ current run is 11 and anything other than a loss against Spartak will see history made as the current incumbents of the shirt match that stunning record held since 1994.

Not even Walter’s great teams post-94 could manage that, nor could Advocaat’s or McLeish’s, and of course McLeish’s created Scottish history by being the first Scottish side to make the KO stage of the Champions League.

But a draw or better tonight and the present class of Ibrox write themselves into a little bit of folklore, and should they manage it, only one fixture would stand in the way of Rangers breaking that stunning club record – but it would be the mighty Villarreal who will come to Ibrox on the 29th looking for an element of revenge following the reverse result.

But first things first – should Rangers do it, and manage to equal a stunning club record of 12 games unbeaten in a row tonight, it really would be a stunning achievement and while domestically the squad’s results have been a little patchy, this would show just what Steven Gerrard has managed to do for this club in Europe in such a small space of time.

Let’s go.