Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha has revealed Bruno Alves' debut in Scottish football reminded the player of Portuguese lower-league football.

Alves made his league debut in Rangers' 2-1 win against Motherwell on Sunday, with the veteran defender is one of several overseas recruits Caixinha brought to Ibrox in the summer.

Asked how the new faces had reacted to their first experience of Scottish football, the manager said Alves had told him that the physical nature of the game had taken him back to the early days of his career.

"They found it different," Caixinha said."For example, I can tell you that I spoke with Bruno Alves.

"He told me: 'It reminds me of when I was playing for Porto B a long time ago in the Portuguese second division'. This was the type of football played in that scenario.

"It reminds him of that and we need to understand that this is going to be the reality."

Caixinha explained Alves had noted the game was physical and direct and the Rangers boss said he believed his side had to take possession and control to counter that approach.

The manager said he had experience of doing that when a coach at Sporting Lisbon and facing Newcastle United and Middlesbrough in the UEFA Cup in 2004-05.

"[The Motherwell game] was physical," Caixinha said. "It was long ball, fighting for the first ball, fighting the second ball, all the time the ball in the air.

"So this is the reality and if we don't want to face the reality we need to change the game to have it under our control. So that's one of the points we need to improve."

Rangers face Dunfermline in the League Cup on Wednesday and the manager was keen to build a winning run as soon as possible so his players would improve at a quicker rate.

"It's always good to have a good start," he said. "It's always good to start building because we know we still have a lot to build ahead of us.

"After you win games the players are more open receive the points that we need to improve and that's what we need to keep looking for.

"We build a team with victories but also grow on the details and the points that we need to improve."