Kris Boyd: Rangers will need to keep their cool against Panathinaikos in the heat of Athens

Kris Boyd believes Rangers have to hold possession against Panathinaikos so their Champions League hopes don’t wilt in the Greek heat.

Russell Martin and his players have travelled to Athens with a precious 2-0 lead from the first leg of their qualifier at Ibrox, and are aiming for a result that will see them march on to play Viktoria Plzen or Servette in the third qualifying round.

Goals from Findlay Curtis and Djeidi Gassama make Rangers favourites to qualify but Panathinaikos showed last week that they pose a real goal threat, and will now be in front of their own fans at the Olympic Stadium, and playing in conditions they are used to.

It’s forecast to be hot on Wednesday evening, with the temperature in the thirties around kick-off. Former Rangers hero Boyd believes that has to be in the team’s thinking pre-match, and that a possession-based approach can help with that and other issues.

“The heat will be a factor,” he said.

“In terms of Russell and the way he wants his team to play, I think it’s really important to go over there and keep the ball for 15, 20 passes and try to frustrate not only the home players, but the home crowd as well.

“Because if they can get behind their team, then it can be a difficult evening for Rangers, but they’ve given themselves a good opportunity to go through.

“It becomes difficult [in the heat] when you’re chasing the ball, but if you’re in control of it, and Russell has spoken about his team being able to keep the ball and for long periods of time, he’ll be hoping that that comes to fruition in Athens, because if you can keep the ball from the opposition, that it goes a long way in a match.

“Whereas if you’re the one that if you the team that’s running about and trying to close the opposition down and get the ball back, it can be tiring.

“I think the heat will probably be mid-30s anyway, so it will be difficult, especially at this time of the season.”

Boyd feels the team can take to the pitch in a positive mood, knowing that while their lead could have been even better, they could also have been facing an entirely different scenario.

“Rangers might look back at the first leg and feel as if they could have had it done,” he said. “But at the same time, I think you’ve got to look at it and think that they could quite easily have found themselves two or three goals down in the tie as well.

“I think if you had offered Russell Martin a two-goal head start before the game last week, he would have bitten your hand off.”