Alexander is great in Europe but we'll score

DEAN SHIELS has managed to do what most top European sides have failed to do this season – score against Rangers.

Although he watched Fiorentina fail to find the net in 240 minutes against Walter Smith's side, the Northern Ireland international is convinced Hibs will again find a way past UEFA Cup hero Neil Alexander, pictured below, tomorrow.

And if Rangers have proved invincible as they've marched into the UEFA Cup final, Shiels insisted they are far from unbeatable, although he admitted trying to find a way past the formidable defensive barrier of David Weir and Carlos Cuellar was a tough proposition.

However, having picked up just one point from the first two of their five post-split fixtures, Shiels admitted he and his team-mates desperately need to take something from tomorrow's televised clash at Easter Road.

Shiels took his goals tally to ten by opening the scoring against both Dundee United and Aberdeen but was left bitterly disappointed his strikes didn't count for much, much more as Hibs desperately try to keep third-placed Motherwell in their sights.

Revealing that it's something which has been discussed at length during a series of meetings at Hibs training ground this week, the 23-year-old midfield star said: "The top teams in Europe cannot score against Rangers.

"It's hard to do so because they have a very, very good, well-organised defence. But I am still confident we can beat them. We are confident we can beat anyone either at Easter Road or away from home in the SPL.

"We've beaten Rangers at Ibrox already this season and, as we have seen in games such as their Scottish Cup semi-final against St Johnstone, they have weaknesses which hopefully we can exploit.

"We have to go into the game confident and believe we can win it, that's the attitude we need."

While delighted to see Rangers lift the profile of Scottish football by making the final against Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester in less than a fortnight's time, Shiels admitted he wasn't too unhappy to see the Ibrox players endure 30 minutes of extra-time in Florence before they won a penalty shoot-out.

He said: "I looked at the Rangers bench on Thursday night and it looked very strong. They have a great squad and, even if players become tired, they have another of quality waiting to come on.

"We have to start the game fast, that's going to be the key, to get off to a good start, put them under early pressure and see how they react. But I believe, if we perform to the best we can, then we can win."

Celitc's back-to-back wins over their Glasgow rivals has reignited the title race once again and Shiels admitted that was the perfect scenario as far as Hibs were concerned with Motherwell playing Gordon Strachan's side today and with two matches against Rangers to come.

He said: "It's good for us that Celtic are still going for the league. They will want to beat Motherwell and, hopefully from our point-of-view, they will do that. With us playing tomorrow we'll be looking closely at that result and hopefully we can either leapfrog them with a win or narrow the gap on them."

Shiels stressed, however, that no-one should ignore the threat of Dundee United who currently sit between Motherwell and Hibs but he admitted he'd happily settle for the Fir Park side coming to Easter Road on Thursday, May 22, for a winner-takes-all encounter.

He said: "As we've got the better goal difference I'd take them being three points ahead of us and having to come here. I think that game will be a key match but we cannot afford to look too far ahead, we have to concentrate on picking up as many points as we can and I don't think we can afford to lose tomorrow." Meanwhile, boss Mixu Paatelainen admitted he hopes the harsh lessons learned at Tannadice and Pittodrie will stand his side in good stead over the three remaining games of the season.

He said: "We scored a great goal against United, played well and got ourselves into a winning position only to concede a silly penalty. Then, although we didn't pass the ball well at Pittodrie, we again got ourselves into a winning position and shot ourselves in the foot.

"It's disappointing but sometimes it goes like that and we have to take heart from the fact we were ahead 1-0 in each of these two tough away games. Hopefully we can keep our lead in future.

"We have a hard run-in with Rangers, Celtic and Motherwell to play, all three of them teams above us. But every other club in the top six has a tough schedule, it's very difficult."