Ally McCoist marked by old scars as European test looms

Published on Monday 25 July 2011 21:57

JUST as the Champions League group stage is the land of milk and honey for European clubs, so the path leading towards it can prove to be the cruelest form of footballing purgatory.

As Ally McCoist sets out tonight on his maiden quest as Rangers manager to reach the lucrative business end of Uefa's elite tournament, he does so still scarred by past experiences in it as both a player and coach.

McCoist must negotiate two qualifying rounds to secure a third successive group stage participation for the Scottish champions and the precious revenue of around 15 million which comes with the prestige of mixing it with Europe's finest.

As he prepared for this evening's third qualifying round, first leg assignment against Swedish champions Malmo at Ibrox, McCoist was insistent the high stakes are not causing him to feel under any greater strain to succeed.

But he willingly expressed his desire to avoid the level of despair he suffered in previous qualification campaigns, most notably against Levski Sofia in 1993 and Kaunas just three years ago. McCoist, still a few weeks away from his comeback from a broken leg, was a helpless spectator in the Bulgarian capital 18 years ago when Nikolai Todorov's stunning long-range shot in stoppage time knocked Rangers out of the Champions League at the first hurdle. In 2008, he was assistant to Walter Smith when Rangers were humbled in Lithuania by Kaunas in one of the most financially damaging defeats in the club's history.

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"Levski was maybe the worst one of the lot for me," reflected McCoist. "I can still see the lad hitting his shot and the ball going in off the bar and post in the 93rd minute or something like that.

"Those things do scar you and stay with you. But the Kaunas tie, I would hope, was a one-off in the sense that any team in the world would have gone into it as jaded as we were after the amount of games we had to play the previous season.

"That definitely played a big part in our performances against Kaunas. But as horrific an experience as Kaunas was, in many ways it doesn't do you any harm to experience something like that.

"The lads who were involved that night and who are still here will need no reminding of how difficult and dangerous these qualifiers can be. The financial rewards of the Champions League are obviously huge as far as the club is concerned but from a football point of view, you just want to take part in what is the best tournament of them all.

"But I don't feel under any more pressure to win this tie than I did to try and beat Hearts on Saturday. I know what I'm going into and I know the importance of it. I believe we are absolutely ready for the game and we all know the importance of it."

While respectful of the potential threat Malmo pose, notably through the highly-rated Daniel Larsson in attack, McCoist believes he has enough evidence to suggest his players should prevail.

"I've watched DVDs of them over the past few days," he said, "while Ian Durrant went to see the second leg of their previous tie in the Faroe Islands and John Brown watched them in their league game against Helsingborgs at the weekend.

"They have players from middle to front who can inflict damage on any team. But, at the same time, we have seen one or two things which would encourage us as well. We certainly feel we have players who can cause them problems.

"They are very dangerous opponents at this stage of the competition and there are a couple of things which suit Malmo more than us going into the tie. They are well into their domestic season, while a lot of people will view them as second favourites which places less pressure on them. But that is something you have to handle at Rangers."While they have another 37 games to make up for an often leaden-footed performance in Saturday's 1-1 draw against Hearts at the start of their title defence, Rangers can ill afford to be anything less than up to full speed against opponents who are likely to be physically competitive at the very least.

"We didn't play particularly well in the first half on Saturday," added McCoist, "but I certainly don't think that was down to a lack of fitness or match sharpness on our part.

"I just think we didn't play well enough, simple as that. In the second half, we were miles better. When you play better, you suddenly also look fitter and sharper and that was the case with us against Hearts."