Kaunas Euro tie bigger than Uefa final, says Smith

WALTER Smith next week embarks on his latest tilt at a competition he believes no Scottish club can win, in the knowledge the Champions League second qualifying round tie against Kaunas is of greater significance to Rangers than their appearance in last season's Uefa Cup final.

While his team's remarkable and unexpected progress to Manchester in May earned the Ibrox club more European credibility than they had enjoyed in the previous 15 years, Smith accepts that simply making it into the group stage of the Champions League means much more to them.

The Rangers manager admits to great concern over the meeting with the Lithuanian champions who visit Glasgow for the first leg next Wednesday night before the return in Kaunas the following Tuesday.

Defeat for Smith's team would see them eliminated from European football completely this season, with no parachute place in the Uefa Cup on offer until the third and final qualifying round. Almost greater than the professional disappointment that would bring, it is the financial impact of missing out on the Champions League proper which weighs most heavily on Smith's mind.

"The financial aspect of it is enormous for a club like ours," said Smith, "and from that point of view the tie against Kaunas is more important than the Uefa Cup final. There's no getting away from that and you have to be prepared for what happens if you are not successful.

"It is a major anxiety, I don't hide away from that. We are in a strange situation where we now have a high co-efficient because of our recent runs in Europe, but find ourselves still having to face these awkward games.

"They come at the wrong time of year for us, we don't even get the benefit of three or four competitive games beforehand. But that's the way it is and when you have European aspirations, there are the things you have to overcome."

While qualification for the group stage has become an annual demand for both Rangers and Celtic, who this season make it directly as Scottish champions, Smith believes the financial gulf which separates them from Europe's major clubs means there is now no prospect of either half of the Old Firm winning the competition.

"No team from any country in Europe with a population of five million, or even double that, is going to win the Champions League," he said. "The winner is always going to come from the big clubs in the big countries.

"Celtic, in qualifying from the group stage in the last couple of years, and ourselves reaching the Uefa Cup final have both shown we still want to be in there competing at that level.

"But I think there has to be a level of realism now to accept that winning the Champions League is maybe beyond us. Even the Uefa Cup run that we had last season cannot be done on a consistent basis. We might enjoy that every now and then, that's taking a realistic view.

" There always has to be a level of optimism and that's where you always hope you can maybe defy the odds a wee bit and get that bit of relative success on the European scene. So I don't think it's a situation where you are giving up on it. The opposite should be the case, to show a bit of determination to fight the odds."

• Five people arrested following the disturbances which marred the Uefa Cup final in Manchester have been banned from all Scottish football grounds, Strathclyde Police said yesterday. The Football Banning Orders last for at least three years. The individuals involved were arrested by officers from Greater Manchester Police on Wednesday, 14 May following incidents during the match between Rangers and Zenit St Petersburg.

Hundreds of Rangers fans went on the rampage when a big screen showing the match in the city's Piccadilly Gardens failed to work just before kick-off.