Gers stay on course for quadruple
Fiorentina became the seventh club in European competition this season to fail to find the back of the net at Ibrox as the first leg of the semi-final ended goalless in Glasgow last night.
And with Barry Ferguson and Kevin Thomson returning from suspension for the return leg next week, Walter Smith’s men will be hopeful of progressing to a meeting with Bayern Munich or Zenit St Petersburg in next month’s final in Manchester.
Defender David Weir is confident the scoreless draw leaves the Gers well placed to progress to the decider. “It’s job done to a certain extent, but there’s still a lot of hard work to do.
“The minimum we wanted was a clean sheet, we got that and it’s something to work on. We’re still alive and with this group of players we have, if we’re still alive we have a chance.
“In the first leg, teams are scared to lose a goal more than anything else but we’re happy with that 0-0. It’s not a bad result. I’m very confident with this group. We’re not the most pleasant on the eye but you know you’ll get 110% and that means a lot.”
Gers goalkeeper Neil Alexander was delighted to have kept a clean sheet on his European debut.
“I enjoyed it,” said the 30-year-old, who has played the last three games with Allan McGregor out injured.
“It was always going to be a tough game but give credit to our defence, I thought we were superb. They’re a good team, a very, very good team.
“They’ve got some fantastic individuals. But I think we played well tonight and I think maybe they didn’t reach their full potential.”
He added: “The away game’s going to be a totally different game.
“They’re going to have to come out and really have a go and it might open up for us.
“Our record in the away games has been fantastic. We know we can go there and score.”
Rangers assistant boss Ally McCoist was also pleased with the night’s events.
“That’s fine with me,” he said.
“I was a little concerned before the game with the injuries and suspensions but, and this may be ironic coming from an ex-centre forward, I though the most important thing was keeping a clean sheet.
“They defended for their lives, the goalkeeper was different class, the two centre-halves excellent and the lads worked their socks off in the centre of the park.
“You want to nick a little something but we’re happy with that.”
Alexander, Broadfoot, Weir, Cuellar, Papac, Novo (Buffel 59), Whittaker, Hemdani, Dailly, Davis, Darcheville (Cousin 59).
Frey, Jorgensen, Ujfalusi, Gamberini, Gobbi, Kuzmanovic, Santana, Liverani, Mutu, Montolivo, Pazzini (Vieri 81).
Kyros Vassaras (Greece).
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