Valencia v Rangers: Hope still springs eternal

• Weiss on the prize: Vladimir Weiss and Valencia's Vicente will renew their rivalry on Tuesday when Rangers visit the Mestalla. Photograph: SNS

"To be honest, at the start of the campaign, I wouldn't have thought we had a chance," Rangers manager Walter Smith admits. "It comes into your thoughts now, where prior to that first game at Old Trafford it didn't. It would still take a hell of an effort, but we are more ready than at the start of the campaign. Then, looking to get European football after Christmas was maybe as much as we could have hoped for. But getting something on Tuesday night could open an opportunity to get into the last 16, it would put us a number of points in front, though still with tough games to go."

Something is certainly stirring when even Smith, the ultra-cautious, douser-down par excellence, is allowing himself the odd "what if" that stuffs the heads of the dreamy supporters. He talks of the match in the Mestalla as an "excursion" his "team can look forward to" because of their showings in the competition, and especially their thrilling performance at home to the Spaniards. Then they hit paydirt with their 5-4-1 European configuration, demonstrating, as Smith says, that with a "decent amount of possession" they can "transfer that system into an attacking" one. So effective did this prove with the hatful of chances they created in effortlessly morphing into a 3-5-2 the other week, it felt like a eureka moment.

Of course, considering Rangers are a team who boast only one win from their past 14 European games, they remain Group C outsiders, even if they are a point to the good of Valencia. And Smith admits that what they achieved in their first round of matches might be altogether more difficult now the element of surprise has gone.

"One of the things we have to remember is that when all the teams will watch us (in domestic football for scouting purposes] we play in an entirely different manner," Smith says. "They don't. Manchester United, Valencia, don't change their way of playing a great deal for the Champions League; we have done. So have Bursaspor, I think that's the right way for two teams looked upon as being the lessers.

"So we've changed, but the teams have now seen that change and are aware of that."

It could all turn to dust from this point.The experience of 2007-8, when seven points at the half-way stage after wins away to Lyon and at home to Stuttgart and a draw against Barcelona at Ibrox gave way to three straight losses remains burned in Smith's mind.

Yet, even in the highly unlikely event of something similar befalling Rangers this time around, as he retires at the end of this season Smith will do so having left the European arena with memories of their maulings in the top level last season overlayered by commendable efforts. The fact he several times returns to the theme of his players building confidence that "was fragile, Champions League-wise, at the start" of this campaign, reveals just how much making a decent final impression on the continental stage mattered to him.

And it is remarkable that, having failed to progress Rangers from the group stages in six previous attempts, in his last tilt at the tournament he could yet oversee the best Champions League campaign by a Scottish club since he took the Ibrox side to within a whisker of the final in 1993-94. When Rangers, in 2006-07, and Celtic, in the following two seasons, made it through to the knock-out stages effectively they edged out sides from Portugal, who can often prove flaky. Rangers this season must take out either Valencia or United, teams hailing from the two top-ranked countries in Europe.

Indeed, the fact the Spanish team were considered certs to finish behind United could play into Rangers' hands, Smith believes. "There's obviously a fair bit of pressure on them to win this game and I hope that maybe that can be something in our favour because we did show, if they have to come forward in a game which I think they will have to do, we might actually be able to take advantage."

He expects to do so again, but knows even his five at the back could be threatened by four attackers, as it was towards the end of their Ibrox confrontation. "Valencia don't set out their stall to defend in any games," he says. "Our challenge is to show that any kind of improvement we've made, especially in terms of our possession of the ball, can be continued in what is a very difficult environment to play in."

Another test, Smith accepts, could come if his team go behind. As yet, they have avoided that, with the only goal conceded coming from the head of Maurice Edu to put Valencia back on terms in Glasgow. "We've managed to negotiate the domestic games going behind in a number of occasions (five] but certainly hope it doesn't happen in the Champions League."

Yet, it was notable that Rangers exhibited a more battle-hardened attitude than their Spanish opponents. That is no accident. Rangers have greater recent European experience than the team they will face in the Mestalla this week. Since the start of the 2007-8 season that brought a UEFA Cup final, the squad has changed little. Some of those in it have therefore turned out in 30-odd European games in little more than three years."We have a fair number who have done that," Smith says. "Steven Naismith came to us at that time, and Lee McCulloch, David Weir, Sasa Papac and Allan McGregor (have been regulars]. I don't think we will be intimidated by going to the Mestalla but going to Valencia is still a huge test. We are going to have to handle quite a bit during the evening." Already Rangers have handled quite a bit more than seemed even remotely possible.

Valencia v Rangers

Champions League, Tuesday

Sky Sports 4, 7:45pm