David Bates has told Rangers they must stop Israeli playmaker Lior Refaelov if they are to overcome Antwerp in the Europa League.
The Ibrox men travel to Belgium for the first leg on Thursday night and they've already taken on Belgian opponents in this year's tournament, beating Standard Liege in both group stage games.
And Bates - who now players with Cercle Brugge - believes his old side will come out on top but warned them it won't be an easy game.
The ex-Ibrox defender left before Steven Gerrard took over having signed a pre-contract with German giants Hamburg, and has since had loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and now Cercle Brugge.
And having come up against Antwerp already this season, he reckons there's one main player who 'everything goes through' and it'll be down to Rangers to stop him.
He told the Sunday Mail: “Antwerp and Standard are two totally different teams.
“Standard press you higher up the pitch with a 4-3-3. It’s a completely different system.
“Antwerp will play with three at the back and they’ve got a really good defensive shape.
“But they’ve got some good players throughout the team.
“The striker Dieudonne Mbokani is injured so he won’t play. And Didier Lamkel Ze is suspended for the first game over here.
“He’s hard to describe, a bit of a hot-head who you can probably wind up on the pitch.
“He’s awkward, you can’t put your finger on just one key thing that he’s good at.
“He can finish but can also hold it up and link play.
“He’s difficult to deal with – you just don’t know what he’s going to do next because he can do a bit of everything.
“And the boy who plays in the No.10 position, Refaelov, is one of their best players. Everything will go through him for Antwerp.
“They’re quite a defensive team, they’re prepared to sit in. They actually let us play out in the game against them and I’m sure they will do the same to Rangers.
“They sit very low in their own half, it’s a very tight system.
“It’s like a 3-5-1-1, with Refaelov in the hole just off the striker.”
