UEFA CUP Fiorentina (0) v Rangers (0):WALTER SMITH is perfectly aware that, even if Rangers claim the Uefa Cup at the City of Manchester Stadium in 13 days, the team's style of play will be criticised. Yet the manager made it clear yesterday that he sees little reason to heed dissenting voices.

Rangers were typically stubborn in holding Fiorentina to a scoreless draw at Ibrox a week ago, a tactic that has attracted scornful words this season from such authorities as Lionel Messi.

"Rangers had the idea that they could just defend in the first leg and then come to Florence and play on the counter-attack, but it is not going to be easy for them here," warned Marco Donadel, the Fiorentina midfielder.

Sitting 90 minutes away from their first European final in 36 years and on course for a four-trophy season's haul, Smith denies he has turned Rangers into little more than negative opportunists.

"The criticism doesn't irk me at all," said the Rangers manager. "A lot of the time I think we have been a lot better than many people have imagined us to be, although there have been periods when we have been inconsistent in our possession of the ball throughout the season. Sometimes it has been really good, as against Sporting in Lisbon recently, and other times it hasn't been so clever.

"In terms of the progression of the team, getting that necessary bit of flair is something that we'll need to try to do in the close season. When you look at the way our lads have applied themselves in games, they have made themselves difficult to beat and it has brought us a level of success that I don't think we could have envisaged in my first full season in charge of them."

As if to emphasise the point, Smith quickly responded "Fiorentina have different skills" when it was put to him in blunt terms that tonight's opponents are a technically superior outfit.

The irony, of course, is that Smith was berated by a section of his support during his previous term at Ibrox (1991 to 1998) because he was unable to regularly make an impact on European competition despite the "bit of flair" supplied by the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup.

By the manager's private admission, financial constraints mean Rangers will be unable to coax players of such relative talents this summer; but supporters will surely not quibble if such lengthy forays to foreign shores become the norm.

Their 2-0 quarter-final success in Lisbon aside, Rangers' optimism in Tuscany stems largely from the personnel returning for the second leg. The influential central midfield duo of Kevin Thomson and Barry Ferguson, suspended when the Italians visited Glasgow, are available again, and David Weir, ruled out by his club on Tuesday because of a groin injury, has staged a dramatic recovery and now has a better than 50-50 chance of playing.

"I just hope we can get to the final, because it has taken a great deal of effort to reach this stage," added Smith.

Guardian Service