SCOTT Arfield’s recent scoring burst for Rangers has happily co-incided with the arrival of his second child Betsy earlier this month. But the doting dad, who also has a daughter called Bonnie (Mitchell, named after his tragic former Falkirk team-mate Chris), knows it could be the daddy of all European nights if he can help the Ibrox side to the victory against Villarreal which would take them to the cusp of qualification for the last 32.

“It was the Tuesday morning before we flew to Russia for the Spartak Moscow match,” said the 30-year-old, who has notched three goals in his last two games and now has six in his last 11 in all competitions for the club. “So I had 24 hours with my wee girl before I flew out to Moscow and my missus was fuming! No, that is two wee girls now, Bonnie and Betsy. Nights leading up to a game I go in the spare room and sleep but other than that I am a fully-fledged dad, night feeds and everything!”

Considering his old team Burnley only joined at the second round and were knocked out by Olympiacos before they could reach the group stages, it is remarkable that three sides who contested the Europa League first round back in July could still reach the last 32. That is FC Copenhagen, FC Sarpsborg of Norway and Rangers themselves. Arfield knows the atmosphere tonight against an FA Premier League-level Villarreal side will be above and beyond anything that Turf Moor could offer him.

“The whole thing has exceeded my expectations, to be honest,” said Arfield. “You are obviously brought up with these two huge clubs in Glasgow, but until you wear that badge you don’t really get a full judgement on it. Everyone thinks they know you and your life gets scrutinised. You get judged by wearing that badge and you can never take it off because you are a Rangers player. Come quarter to ten tomorrow night hopefully I have got the right result to back up my judgement.”

While Alfredo Morelos could equal a SPL-era record in Scottish football if he scores in his seventh consecutive league match against Hearts on Sunday, Arfield feels it is vital that he and others weigh in with a goal or two to take the weight off his shoulders. “Obviously with the wide players we have got and the strikers we have got in terms of holding things up and seeing your run, midfielders should be thinking about goals,” he said. “If I wasn’t sitting on this number at the minute I would be disappointed that I am not getting in there and contributing to what we’ve got in the team. Alfredo is a fantastic player, a fantastic goalscorer, but he does need help from everybody else.”

Arfield agrees that the 2-2 draw against Villarreal represented a serious staging post for this Rangers team. A goal down and hanging on throughout the first period, Rangers got after the Spaniards in the second half and both teams rued late chances to win the match.

“Carlos Bacca had a good chance for them over there, but I had one as well,” said Arfield. “It shows what we have got in there to go and create chances against good teams. That was a wake-up call for us, back to Premier League days because the players were so technical and so gifted. But we are at our best when we go after teams and teams maybe take us and the atmosphere a little bit lightly.”