Jermain Defoe admits he is eager to sample his own European experience at Rangers after being blown away by last year’s run.
The veteran England striker was convinced to join Steven Gerrard’s side last January after seeing how the Ibrox faithful responded to their first group-stage appearance in eight years.
The former West Ham and Tottenham ace, who struck twice as the Light Blues crushed St Joseph’s 10-0 on aggregate in this season’s opening qualifier, said: “It’s good to be back in Europe.
“The last time I played in one of these competitions was when I was at Tottenham so I’m looking forward to it.
“Seeing the games the club played in the group stages last year was part of the attraction in me coming here.
“I remember watching some of them and speaking to my agent about the atmosphere and stuff like that.
“When you see that, it’s only normal to want to be a part of it. To be honest, it was one of the reasons I wanted to sign.
“I saw some of the highlights from the group games and they did well. Now I’m looking forward to the challenge ahead.
“I think it would be special if we could get back to the group stages. This is a massive football club with amazing fans. We’ve got a lot of quality in our squad now so I think if we can progress it would be great for everyone.”
Rangers still have three ties to overcome before they can even think about the group stages, with old foes Progres Niederkorn first up at Ibrox on Thursday.
But while Defoe knows the survivors of the club’s 2017 humiliation to the Luxembourg minnows will be desperate for revenge, he believes Gers must go in with cool heads.
“I’m sure we owe them one,” said the 36-year-old.
“Speaking to the boys it was obviously disappointing getting knocked out.
“But we need to approach it like any other game. You can’t think about what happened last time even though I suppose you want to get one over on them.”
