Can Smith’s Dogs of War hound Lisbon out of Europe?

Yes, I will admit, this is shocking. Given my stance on what I think of both halves of the Old Firm, it is somewhat unbelievable that I find myself about to type a blog post about one of them. However, I will give a stout defence of this.

I am sitting in the Sports department of BBC Scotland’s magnificent complex on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow, as I carry out my work experience for our 3rd year. After spending two days with television, I am now stationed with the radio team and part of my remit for today is to be part of the preparation and production from the studio for Sportsound’s live broadcast of Rangers‘ cruch UEFA Cup clash with Sporting Lisbon at Ibrox, which is clearly visible as I peer out the windows to my left.

So, then, its an ideal topic to discuss, with the Light Blues the only British side remaining in the competition, after Everton, Tottenham and Bolton fell in the last 16. And the latter’s conquerers will roll up on the southside of Scotland’s largest city aiming to end Walter Smith’s hopes of an unprecedented quadruple.

Despite the disappointment of Champions League elimination after a 3-0 home reverse to Olympique Lyonais, Smith’s side have advanced much further in UEFA’s secondary tournament than they might previously have envisaged. They knocked out Panathanikos on away goals in Athens before defeating Germans Werder Bremen 2-1 on aggregate, a result quite significant in that many tipped Werder as potential tournament darkhorses.

But Rangers have not advanced this far playing exhilarating football. Indeed, flair has not been the forefront of Smith’s agenda since he returned to the club just over a year ago. Then, Rangers were a mess, completely disorganised, and were out of all domestic competitions in January, as a memorable win for my team Dunfermline sent them spinning out of the Scottish Cup.

So the first task for Gers’ management team was to make them disciplined, organised and hard to beat, the same task Smith carried out excellently when he helped transform the fortunes of the national team after the shambolic Berti Vogts era. And this formula has Rangers with one trophy in the bag, six points clear of Celtic in the title chase and have the chance of a Scottish Cup semi final to look ahead to.

One radio commentator remarked this week that Smith’s second Rangers side are “Dogs of War”, not too dissimilar to the side Joe Royle built at Everton in the mind 1990s. Then, Royle, without signing any “star” players, transformed the Toffees from perenial relegation battlers to FA Cup winners within a year. The similarities between them and Smith’s current squad are quite clear.

This is not to say Rangers are devoid of good players, far from it. Skipper Barry Ferguson is having a tremendous season for club and country, with Carlos Cuellar, the vastly experienced David Weir and goalkeeper Allan McGregor have formed a titanic trio, with Rangers only having conceded 21 goals in the league. Up front, man mountain Jean Claude Darcheville has proved vital to Smith in his preferred 4-5-1 system, while Kris Boyd is always a massive threat to come off the bench, as evidenced as his 2 goals and winning penalty snatched the CIS Insurance Cup from the grasp of desperately unlucky Dundee United.

Saturday’s Old Firm game was another case in point. Celtic enjoyed the early play at Ibrox but once Rangers edged in front through Kevin Thomson, Rangers overall were content to soak up anything Gordon Strachan’s team threw at them and in the end comfortably staved off the threat of the Hoops. Not the most expansive football compared to Smith’s first stint, where players like Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup graced Govan.

But as good as they were domestically, they struggled badly in Europe, with early Champions League and UEFA Cup exits the norm. But Smith, with his more cautious approach, has led Rangers to their best ever UEFA Cup run and will hope to carry on to the final at the City of Manchester Stadium in May.

His tactics this evening will be important. Sporting may adopt a more defensive, counter attacking game, much like Panathanikos did in the round of 32. If they do so, they will rely on two richly talented players to snatch a critical away goal on the break in Brazilian striker Liedson, who has scored four goals in his last two games, and Joao Moutinho, who at 22 is Sporting’s second youngest captain and is already being talked about in the same breath as Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

But if Rangers don’t score, keeping them out at the other end will be critical. The Gers haven’t conceded at home in Europe since Lyon and only Stuttgart have netted at Ibrox other than the French champions. And Rangers away form, including a great win in Lyon and the draw in Greece, indicates that even a 0-0 draw wouldn’t be the worst result, especially as Sporting struggled to defeat a vastly understrength Bolton side at home in the last round.

But with the 2005 UEFA Cup finalists struggling in 4th place in the Portugese League, Rangers couldn’t have asked for a better tie to progress to the last four and a potential meeting with Fiorentina or PSV Eindhoven.

And given the way his team have snarled their way throughout this campaign, you wouldn’t back against it being a memorable night for the Ibrox club tonight.

 For live commentary on Rangers V Sporting Lisbon, tune in to BBC Radio Scotland on 810 MW from 7.15pm tonight. Host Richard Gordon will be joined by Murdo MacLeod, Craig Paterson, Billy Dodds and Chick Young. You can also listen online by clicking here.