STEVEN GERRARD is confident Rangers won’t be overawed by a volatile home crowd as they set their sights on the Europa League group stages.

The Light Blues face Legia Warsaw in the first leg of their Europa League play-off clash and are just one tie away from a second consecutive appearance in the groups under Gerrard’s guidance.

Rangers have brought a sizeable travelling support with them to the Polish capital after wins over St Joseph’s, Progres Niederkorn and Midtjylland in recent weeks.

But they will be considerably outnumbered by the vocal Legia fans as the hosts prepare for a rare 31,000 sell-out at what will be a hostile and intimidating Polish Army Stadium.

Gerrard said: “I think the key to us reaching the Europa League group stages is maintaining the positive start and the form we’ve produced so far.

“If anything we might have to go up a level to find the performance and result we need.

“In terms of our supporters, it’s no surprise we’ve got fantastic support out here. We want to give them a performance to be proud of.

“But in terms of numbers, nothing ever surprises me wherever we are in the world when you see big, big numbers of Rangers fans because they follow this team everywhere. That’s the reason why it’s such a big club.

“The memories [of the European Championship in 2012] weren’t good because we got knocked out of the tournament. But I always enjoy coming to Poland. There are obviously a lot of Liverpool fans here who have given me a lot of individual support.

“I think in the main the Polish fans get behind the team and create an environment to play in.

“But for me the players should really enjoy that and embrace the hostility and put their shoulders back and really enjoy coming here and put in a performance that our own supporters can be proud of.

“I think it is very difficult to gauge this test against previous tests since I came to the club, whether that be against Maribor, Ufa, Osijek or other terms. It’s difficult to gauge the level.

“One thing is for sure and that is that this will be a tough test. They will be two close encounters over both ties. We have two good teams fighting for the same prize.

“I have big belief and I back my players to deliver. My experience of this team is that when the challenge gets tough, they stand up. I think the hostility here in Legia will bring the best out of my team and I have every confidence we will get the result we need.”

Rangers turned in two terrific performances to overcome Midtjylland in the last round as they eased to a 7-3 aggregate win to book their place in the play-off stages.

But the Light Blues will need to raise their game once again as they prepare to face a Legia outfit that have yet to concede in continental competition this term.

Gerrard said: “Yes, Legia are very well organised and they don’t concede many goals. I think the key tomorrow is to try and find our level, to reach the performances we managed in the last tie against Midtjylland.

“If we do, I have confidence we will find a breakthrough. The important thing for us is to keep creating chances because we do have players in good form.

“Whatever the test and challenge and belief in front of us, we always have confidence and belief that we can go and strike when the time comes within the game.

“I believe Legia will come and be aggressive and try and press us high, especially in the early stages.

“So, while we have to handle that and cope under pressure, it should give us opportunities to go and strike in the space behind. But time will tell whether we can execute in those moments.”

Rangers made the trip to Poland without new signing Brandon Barker after he was omitted from the final squad for the Legia clash on Wednesday morning.

Defender Filip Helander has been added to the squad and Gerrard has downplayed talk over why the Swede wasn’t included in the original list that was submitted last week.

He said: “The rules are you get up to 24 hours to confirm the squad anyway.

"For some reason there is a big rush to get the squad of 22 over immediately, so when we qualified against FC Midtjylland within 24 hours they were looking for us to give a squad of 22 straight away, I don’t know why.

"Don’t read more into it - I’ve got 24 hours to finalise my squad and I didn’t confirm it until this morning.”