Smith unperturbed after Ibrox stalemate
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Article summary
Walter Smith is confident that Rangers FC can replicate their scoring feats from previous away matches after the Scottish outfit kept another clean sheet at home.
Article top media content
Article body
Walter Smith, Rangers manager
There were few opportunities for both teams. Fiorentina showed they are a quality side and we had to match them – credit to our players though for matching them. Now we are in a situation for the second leg we have been before. We have managed to win before and hopefully we can do it again. I felt we restricted them to very few opportunities, but we would've liked to have had more possession. I feel if you don't concede a goal in the home leg, you have always got a good chance. Neil Alexander played very well and his handling was good. He made a very good save from their free-kick when he held the ball and he handled crosses very well. But we had no fears over him because he has played at international level and he is a good replacement for Allan McGregor.
You gain confidence when you play in as many European games as we have. I think we are a difficult team to play against and score against. And we have had plenty of experience of knockout games this season. We can take a lot of confidence from the away games we have played in this season. We have managed to score away from home in Lyon, Stuttgart, Panathinaikos and Lisbon and those are not places that teams would relish going to. So we have a degree of confidence. The fans played a huge part. They know our team may lack of lot of things, but the crowd appreciate our efforts. When we signed him [David Weir], we didn't expect he would play in the number of games that he has done. He has done well, is very professional and a good guy to have around.
Cesare Prandelli, Fiorentina coach
I think we deserve compliments for the way we have played. We came up against a wall. Obviously we will try to play for the result next Thursday. The tie is still very open and it could even go to penalties, but both teams still have a chance. No, I don't think so [worried about not creating many chances]. We were up against a team who marked us very tightly. We will see – there is always a first time [that Rangers will not progress having drawn the first leg].