Beasley fears for Rangers captain

DaMarcus Beasley says it will be a "massive loss" if captain Barry Ferguson is unavailable to play for Rangers FC against VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday.

Inspirational captain
The 29-year-old midfielder faces a late fitness test on a knee injury and, according to Beasley, the presence of the Scottish international is vital if Rangers are to get their Group E campaign off to a winning start at Ibrox. "He's our captain and is the one that makes us go," said Beasley. "He's a tough guy to lose and is irreplaceable in my eyes. But at the same time we have to play without him in some games, so we've got to learn to play and win without him. But he's a massive loss to the team and hopefully he will be all right."

Different story
Ferguson sparked a mini-revival when he came off the bench at Heart of Midlothian FC on Saturday but he could not prevent Rangers surrendering their 100 per cent domestic record. The Glasgow outfit suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season in Edinburgh, and having scored a late consolation goal in the 4-2 loss, Beasley aims to take out his frustrations on the German champions. "We haven't talked about it and we haven't watched the video," said the United States international. "It was what it was, and the best thing you can do is take it out on your next opponent. The game was a disappointment but this is a different competition and we can start all over again against Stuttgart."

PSV lesson
The 25-year-old winger tasted heartbreak in his first UEFA Champions League campaign in 2004/05, as his former club PSV Eindhoven came within a whisker of reaching the final. A late strike by Massimo Ambrosini enabled AC Milan to progress to Istanbul instead, yet PSV's swashbuckling run to the last four proved to Beasley that teams from so-called smaller nations can make an impact in Europe's élite tournament. "If you get out of the group stage, you never know what can happen," he said. "PSV are a bit like Rangers in that they are a smaller club in a world context, but we can surprise a lot of people, starting with Stuttgart. Teams are going to underestimate us and that can only be good for us. A lot of teams won't know too much about Rangers or Scottish football and hopefully we can catch them off guard."