Rangers return to Europa League action on Thursday when they face Conference League winners Olympiacos in their own backyard.

Both sides sit on six points from their opening three games with the pair boasting a win over Malmo and defeat to Lyon.

Ahead of the clash, we caught up with Olympiacos supporter Aristidis Bouloubassis from the Thrylos 7 International podcast for an in-depth insight into Rangers' upcoming opponents.

Can you tell us how big last season was for Olympiacos after winning the Conference League?

It was an insane year, especially given how chaotic the season actually was. We went through three coaches last season. Jose Luis Mendilibar, who took us to the Conference League final and the title win, was our third coach of the season and our sixth coach in two seasons, it's insane. We started off that season in a rebuild because, for the past two and a half seasons, things were not going so well at Olympiacos. Ever since Pedro Martins in that last season that we had, where we won the title, but it was some of the worst football we had seen at Olympiacos in the Marinakis era. Things hadn't been going well and coaches were getting fired, personnel were coming in and out, 30, 40 players a season in and out, it was insane. The start of last season was supposed to be the rebuild. We brought in a new sporting director, Antonio Cordon, who some people may be familiar with, with his work in Spain. We also brought in coach Diego Martinez, who was considered to be one of the youngest, kind of hottest coaching minds in Spain up and coming and things started off well last season, but then a really contentious derby that involved somebody throwing a firecracker, a player going to the hospital, a lot of issues, point deduction, things kind of cascaded downhill for us. We brought in another coach from La Liga, a Portuguese coach, Carlos Carvalhal and he brought in some important players for us that were really important for the rest of the season. He brought us Chiquinho, he brought us David Carmo but he was a terrible coach for Olympiacos. He ended up isolating two of our best players, Kostas Fortounis and Daniel Podence, two of our most creative players. He ends up getting fired about a month after he was brought in and that's when we bring in Jose Luis Mendilibar. When that coach was brought in, the average Olympiacos fan was literally looking at the season like, we're not going to get past the Hungarian opponents, Ferencváros. We're not going to probably even come in third place. We might even not get a European spot. That's how bad things were looking. He has the same assets that were already there and he takes us to European glory and almost gets us to the title. The title was lost in literally the last week of the season, but almost gets us there and ends up getting us the first-ever Greek European title in UEFA history.

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How are Olympiacos performing this season?

Mendilibar is a European tournament knockout coach. But in the leagues, he has some struggles there. We saw that with Sevilla where he had the same issues. We look great outside of the Lyon match in Europe. The pressing scheme is solid but in Greece, against the mid and lower-table teams, for some reason, we're having a lot of struggles. Most of it has to do with efficiency, it's not for lack of creating chances. We do create chances. In the last five games, we have six goals scored which isn't amazing for a team like Olympiacos but when you look at the underlying data, our xG is almost nine. Our post-shot xG, our expected goals on target, is over seven. So there's something there in the lack of efficiency that's plaguing us in Greece.

How do you expect Olympiacos to set up and approach this match?

Bar the Lyon match, we will set up exactly how we have in almost every other game. We'll be using the 4-2-3-1. Press first, as we like to say. Offense by defense. Lyon was the only match where we sat deeper and played a low block. Mendilibar doesn't do that. The lineup that you saw on Saturday against Panserraikos, that's the lineup we're going to be using. That's our starting lineup, barring injuries, of course. The one thing that will be different is news came out on Sunday that our left-footed centre-back, Lorenzo Pirola is back from injury and he will be 100% for this game.

He played left back against Malmo and was fantastic there so all signs are pointing that he will be playing left back again because our starting left back, Francisco Ortega, the Argentinian, he is injured still. In a way, that's better for us because he's really been the weak point on the team this season. Costinha will be starting right back and our starting right back, Rodinei, will be playing right wing. 

In terms of the danger men and the threats that Rangers need to be wary of?

Ayoub El Kaabi, his form has picked up from last season. His strike rate isn't as absurd as it was in the second half of last season. In the second half of last season, he had a goal conversion rate, like goals to shots of almost 40%, which is ridiculous. Ever since he came back from AFCON, he's been a monster. This season, he's on pace to break his 33 goals, and 36 goal contributions from last season. In Europe, he is huge for us so in that aspect, you have to watch out for him. He's also really key on the press and runs everywhere. In midfield, keep your eye out for a 17-year-old kid who will be starting number 96, Christos Mouzakitis. He was one of the best performers for our UEFA Youth League-winning side last season. They call him the Greek Iniesta, he's incredible to watch.

What kind of atmosphere can the Rangers players expect when they walk out the tunnel?

The Georgios Karaiskakis gets insanely loud. Players will tell us when we interview them and we talk to them that it's one of the most intimidating stadiums. If the crowd is there, it's a 12th man for us. For me, having been to the stadium myself and having been to stadiums across the United States, I can tell you there's no atmosphere like it. It really is incredible. If we have the crowd on our side, if the team is performing well, it'll be something that'll really play in our favour.

What are Olympiacos' weak links?

If you want to beat Olympiacos, use the low block. The system that we play is offense by defense. We rely on our pressing scheme for games. You'll see a player that is playing in our No.10 position, Chiquinho. He's not a massive creator. The role for the 10 in Mendilibar's system is to assist in the press. The whole point of this team and the success that we found is that we turn over the ball in the opponent's possession using our press traps and then create big opportunities on the counter. The whole purpose of the team is to force the ball, pressure your centre backs on the restarts, force the ball wide, and then trick the full backs into playing the ball centrally, where our midfield is supposed to be anticipating. One of the most important pieces of this team is going to be a player named Santiago Jezze. He is arguably the most important piece of this team. He is extremely important because he disrupts so many plays for the opposition. If you are able to overrun our midfield, if you can cut through our midfield and catch us on the counter, you will cause us a lot of problems because that is where we are having some issues.  The press isn't quite where it was last season, especially with Mouzakitis, He's not perfect and he makes mistakes. But if Rangers are able to suck us in and break through the press trap, they will find success in this game. If we are not successful in the press trap, we lose the primary measure of winning these matches so if you try to play us open and come at us, that's exactly what we're hoping for. Every team that we've come against that has played us openly and hasn't taken us seriously, we've punched in the mouth early. Aston Villa was a big one. Last year we punched them in the mouth in the semi-finals for the exact same reasons. That's our tactics and how we achieve success.