BURNLEY’S squad, it is reckoned, is worth £108million in the current English transfer market.

Their wage bill this season will exceed £40m and their manager Sean Dyche is at the moment trying his best to spend £40m on three players.

And yet Aberdeen showed there was little between the teams over 210 minutes, so why should they fear Rangers – even if the Ibrox men’s squad, compared to the one at Pittodrie, cost a fortune?

That’s what Joe Lewis, the Aberdeen goalkeeper, believes. He also doesn’t care who the manager is at Ibrox these days, what they are paying the players or how much cash has been splashed this summer.

Lewis said: “Rangers have spent a lot of money. They spent more money than us, their players will be on bigger wages than us, and they will have spent more on transfer fees. You can see on Thursday the gulf in what Burnley have compared to us.

“The last two seasons we have finished ahead of Rangers and we showed we have something that money can’t buy. It is definitely something that has worked for us. It is a secret and I don’t know what it is.

“I am a Norwich fan and I never really saw him [Steven Gerrard] play against Norwich a lot. I am not too fussed about who the Rangers manager is. I am just pleased it wasn’t Derek.

“[Gerrard] is their manager so he should have an impact on their games the same way as our manager has on our games. There is a lot of interest in their manager from outwith but as players we will look at their team, but I don’t care who their manager is, really.”

Lewis, outstanding in the 3-1 extra-time defeat at Turf Moor on Friday that ended Aberdeen's hopes of reaching the Europa League group stage this season, is still smarting from his side's failure to beat Rangers last season despite being better than them over the piece.

He said: “We only took one point off them last season so we need to improve that. In the last few games we performed well and we were one of the teams with the best points’ tally after the split.

“You finish off the season where you deserve to finish. In a one-off game or cup tie you can be unlucky but you can’t be unlucky over the course of the season. You finish where you deserve to finish.

“We are looking forward to the big games and we have a team that relish that now.”

The job of Derek McInnes before Sunday is to work a bit of magic on a group of players who had nothing left to give by the end of Thursday night.

The manager said: “Niall McGinn and Sam Cosgrove were feeling the effects. Tommie Hoban too has not played a lot of football in recent months. But, like I say, it is no surprise at this stage of the season, they would not be expecting that type of game.

“The way the draw was made, we finished second in the league and so it seemed unfair. It was a real competitive game and probably more competitive than both teams wanted. There is no way Burnley and ourselves can be at our best at this stage of the season. A lot of players will be feeling the effects.”