Steven Gerrard admits it will be impossible for Rangers to get the win they need to keep their Europa League dream alive if they repeat their nightmare defensive display against Spartak Moscow.

Rangers lost 4-3 in the Russian capital last month and the boss admits all four goals were preventable.

However, the Light Blues can take a step closer to the last 32 if they can bounce back to that setback by beating Villarreal on Thursday night.

Victory over the Yellow Submarine would send Gerrard's team to Austria with everything to play for against Rapid Vienna next month.

But a defeat, combined with a win for Spartak at home to Rapid, would mean it is all over for Rangers – and that is why Gerrard is so keen to see his team tighten up.

He said: "At this level you get punished for individual mistakes and for collective mistakes.

"That is down to the level of opposition and the level of individual player we are up against.

"Hopefully the Moscow game was a big learning curve. It's impossible to defend like we did and expect to come away with results at this level."

Rangers are unbeaten in 14 home games under Gerrard but the former Liverpool skipper is refusing to get carried away with their Ibrox displays just yet.

"I think it takes a long period of time for it to become a fortress," he said. "It's still early days but of course our form is really good and really strong at home.

"But I think you judge these things over the course of a season, so it's important we keep performing really well here and we'll make a judgement on the word 'fortress' come the end of the campaign.

"It's still far too early to say Ibrox is a fortress but we need to keep making it a place teams find uncomfortable to come to.

"We need a big help from the supporters too, certainly tomorrow night when we're talking about this level of game. It's very difficult to get the result we want without the fans tomorrow."