Sporting tie just as important as Celtic game, insists Walter Smith

IT IS his last season as Rangers manager and Walter Smith isn't about to start prioritising football matches.

The under-resourced Ibrox side face two hugely significant matches over the next four days. Although both sets of opponents play in hoops, Smith cannot afford to distinguish one from the other.

The Rangers manager yesterday insisted that he is as desperate to progress past Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League as he is to defeat Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday. This remains the case despite an acknowledgement from Smith yesterday that the pressure on his squad is far greater now than in 2008, the year a run to the Uefa Cup final was said to have cost his side the league title.

Sporting Lisbon's arrival in Scotland yesterday made the temptation to reflect on that campaign yet more difficult to resist. The Portuguese team were defeated by Rangers at the quarter-final stage four seasons ago. But fatigue finally overcame the Ibrox side as they were undone by Zenit St Petersburg in the final in Manchester, with Celtic triumphing over their faltering rivals in a league campaign that had been disrupted by postponements.

A severe winter, coupled with Rangers' progress in Europe, means that another busy programme is in store for the Ibrox side. A potentially championship-defining match with Celtic on Sunday is bookended by clashes with Sporting Lisbon in the last 16 stage of the Europa League. A Scottish Cup fifth-round replay with Celtic is also scheduled for under a fortnight's time.

"I almost take a simplistic view of these things," said Smith yesterday. "When you are at a big club, and you enter a tournament, you want to try to win it. When I was asked about the League Cup, and whether I was taking it seriously, my answer was quite simple: Is everyone else taking it seriously? Because we've been in a lot of finals.

"So it's the same thing in Europe. If you are in the tournament then you want to try to do well in it. That's the way it is."

Rangers are again discovering there can be a price paid for success. Smith yesterday contemplated another crucial period in his second and final stint as Rangers manager, pointing out that it is fairly obvious why the task must be considered a more onerous one this time around. The Ibrox playing resources have shrunk due to the financial constraints now in place at the club.

"Simple mathematics will tell you," he said. "If you had 24 (players] before and now you are down to 16, then you are obviously putting more pressure on the group.

"But there is no way we will approach this by fielding a team that we think might not win this game, just because we go to Celtic Park on Sunday. What if we ended up losing both games? You've just got to try to win the matches as you have them. Yes, it may have an influence on your domestic situation."

Smith despairs at those who imagine him ranking matches in order of significance. He denied that there was any temptation on his part to field a weakened team tonight, with the task of pegging back Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premier League to come on Sunday. Neil Lennon's side are currently five points clear at the top, although Rangers have two games in hand. Smith recounted an anecdote from the run to the Uefa Cup final in order to illustrate that nothing can dim a manager's first instinct, which is to prevail.

"When we were in Panathinaikos and we were down 1-0 and 'Coisty (Ally McCoist, Smith's assistant] said to me: 'what will we do?' I said, 'get beat'.

"He said to me: 'we can't!' And I said: 'I know we can't.' So we made a change and got a goal. Nacho (Novo] scored from a corner. So we got the goal, and we went through.

"The point I'm making is, you are aware that it will affect your domestic situation," he continued.

"But how can you want to lose? I've spent three and a bit years trying to make sure I have a squad that has a good winning mentality. And now I'm supposed to say to them: 'look, this game is more important that the other'?" Tickets still remain available for this evening's match, which kicks off at 8.05pm.

The ground is unlikely to be full to anything like capacity with supporters doing what Smith cannot afford to do and ranking games in order of attractiveness. Once a European tie against so famous a club as Sporting Lisbon would have rallied the masses.

In light of the Europa League's diminished status, and with league and cup battles to come, supporters are not so inclined to pay an additional fee on top of their season-ticket outlay for a second-tier competition, particularly having had their appetite whetted earlier this season by Champions League involvement.

The expected crowd of around 40,000 will stand up well in comparison to other clubs' home gates in the same competition. However, it will still offer food for thought for football authorities. The heavy schedule does not impact solely on the players.

"If our Scottish Cup game is an indication of what happens when season tickets are not applicable - I think that the game we had with Kilmarnock here, there were only 14,000 people - then that's a sign for everyone," said Smith.

"I don't know whether that will be a trend or not because it is a little bit early for us to say," he added. "We have witnessed it in the Scottish Cup. If it is the same in the European matches then it may well be a warning sign for everyone."