The Rangers captain Lorenzo Amoruso could precipitate his departure from Ibrox by performing well during his sojourn to Italy for this afternoon's decisive match in the third round of the UEFA Cup.

The Italian central defender is the subject of persistent rumours that Juventus are interested in taking him to Turin - and Amoruso confessed yesterday that he liked the idea.

Impressing interested onlookers at the Ennio Tardini Stadium today, however, could be difficult. Amoruso, along with his partner Colin Hendry, will have to cope with the deadly pace of Parma's two strikers, Enrico Chiesa and Hernan Crespo.

They will have help from an unusual source in the midfielder Ian Ferguson, who will be deployed in a defensive role to look after the main supplier to the Parma strikers Juan Sebastian Veron.

Ferguson did a similar job in the 1-1 draw in the first match two weeks ago but Veron, bought from Sampdoria for £12.5 million, still found the space to create the Italian side's goal.

The Rangers coach Dick Advocaat insists that he will continue with two forwards, which means that either Jorg Albertz or Barry Ferguson will be dropped from midfield. It will probably be Albertz, as Advocaat is likely to favour a more energetic type.

"What makes this match different is that we will pay more attention to the opposition than usual," said the Dutchman. "But bringing Ian Ferguson in to police Veron is the only specific change I will make to cope with Parma."

Parma (probable): Buffon; Thuram, Sensini, Cannavaro; Fuser, Baggio, Boghossian, Bennarivo; Veron; Crespo, Chiesa.

Rangers (probable): Niemi; Porrini, Hendry, Amoruso, Numan; Kanchelskis, B Ferguson, I Ferguson, van Bronckhorst; Wallace, Durie.