PEDRO Caixinha’s assimilation into the Scottish way of life will move forward another step this afternoon when he takes in his first Aberdeen versus Rangers game at Pittodrie. It is likely to be a raucous and rambunctious affair but one he is looking forward to rather than fearing. The Portuguese is someone who prefers to experience life at its fullest, a trait that has served him well during years of football globetrotting.

There is nothing quite as life-affirming as finding yourself in the midst of the heaving tumult that is a football stadium at its most frenetic. Caixinha spent his first day in Scotland last month as an interested spectator at the Celtic versus Rangers derby, an afternoon he is unlikely to forget in a hurry.

It was another box ticked in a career of memorable moments. He experienced the heat, noise and fury of the Athens derby against Olympiacos during his time as a coach with Panathinaikos, and sat among 90,000 fans inside Mexico’s famous Azteca Stadium. It was only when he was managing in Qatar in front of crowds of barely three men and a camel did he truly appreciate how much he had missed football at its most manic and passionate.

“I like games with that intensity,” he said. “The most hostile situations I’ve been involved in football would include Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. I got a little bit scared! The bus was being hit with objects when we arrived at the stadium.

“Benfica versus Sporting could be the same, and Mexico was similar. There can be a lot of violence and you’d feel that when you arrive at the stadium. The supporters use a lot of fingers in their gestures! I’d count them and say 'we are already losing 20-0'. Football is like this when you have clashes between cities or clubs with rivalries and I love to work under those circumstances.

“I live the game the way I need to live the game. For example, when I was in Qatar there were 100 people watching the game, sometimes 200. Maybe we might have 1500 for a special match but no more than that.

“I’m an intense guy, I’m a passionate guy, so I definitely missed that when I was there. I was reviewing our last match on Friday morning and thinking to myself that I had missed this environment.

“I was missing the passion, I was missing people watching games, some supporting us and others being against us. This is football. This is one of the challenges that brought me here. I could be in Qatar where the temperature will be a lot higher than Glasgow and you receive fantastic wages.

“It’s not what brought me here. I came for challenges and the main one is raising Rangers to the position they deserve.”

Caixinha, though, can appreciate the bedlam but somehow still switch off from it all as well.

“When I came to Ibrox for my first time, there was a fantastic reception for me but after that I’m isolated in my work. So if I need to focused and analyse what’s going on, that’s what I do. If I need to be more interactive on the touchline, that’s what I’m going to do regardless of the stadium. I’m there to support the team, assessing what’s going on and taking decisions. It’s not going to be different [today].

“We need to see all of these games as challenges. Players at Rangers have to be challenged all the time and this is just one more. Because of the form Aberdeen are in at this moment and because of the environment we’ll be in. We need to have a clear mind and an emotional balance but we also need to show guts and personality. We need to show strong character.”

Caixinha believes it is important to continually set targets which is why he is still eyeing second place despite Aberdeen’s 12-point advantage. Being wary of St Johnstone creeping up in fourth place would seem a more pressing concern but the Portuguese is not one for looking over his shoulder.

“I always look up,” he said. “When I’m beginning my way - and this is the first step - it’s only going in one direction. I’m not like a crab that goes side to side or to the back. I only look at what is in front of us.

“It will be difficult to catch Aberdeen because of the points difference. We definitely need to beat them twice. Besides that, we still need them to lose points in other matches. They’ve had 10 home wins in a row and they are a team who have been three years in the making – same manager, same squad and the same style of play. We need to understand what we’re going to face.

“I saw six of their goals against Dundee but left when the traffic was a bit quieter! I’ve watched a lot more than that. I watched the game against Rangers on September 29. Rangers were far better than Aberdeen and ended up losing. We take some interesting points from that game. We want to recall that moment because they were really good. We’ve done a lot more recent analysis and they’re definitely a very strong side.

“But the history and the demands of this club are so massive that we need to respond on a daily basis. So trying to finish second really matters.”