Barry Ferguson will equal David Narey’s Scottish record of 76 appearances in European competition here tonight as Rangers, who lead the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League, attempt to continue their push forward on four fronts in the second leg of their Uefa Cup round-of-32 tie against Panathinaikos.

The Rangers captain would have preferred to reach such a landmark in the Champions League, but he assured the 800 supporters estimated to be travelling to Greece that their team will be going all out to reach the next round after a 0-0 draw in the first leg at Ibrox eight days ago. If they succeed, they are likely to face Werder Bremen, who hold a 3-0 lead from their first leg against Sporting Braga.

“I’ve heard people say we might not be too bothered if we lose to Panathinaikos but that’s nonsense,” Ferguson said. “I certainly believe we can win the Uefa Cup. There would be no point taking part if I didn’t think that.

“Obviously the Champions League is the place to be, but I enjoy every game in Europe. We’re disappointed we didn’t get into the Champions League knockout stages. With the start we had, we thought we could have done it.

“There are some top sides still there, but if we play to our potential, we’re good enough. We’ve shown that this season, going over to Lyons and beating a very good team. We’ve drawn with Barcelona at home. On our day we can be a good match for anybody.”

For Ferguson, who was 30 this month, the next target will be a century of European games. “Hopefully, I can continue a good while longer,” he said. “I don’t see why I couldn’t reach 100 with Rangers. I’ve never given it much thought to be honest, certainly not when I made my European debut. That was against Shelbourne at Tran-mere [a Uefa Cup preliminary-round game in 1998, moved to Merseyside for security reasons, in which Rangers recovered from 3-0 down to win 5-3] – a good start.”

The record-equalling start might not have come tonight had Walter Smith, the manager, decided to rest players with the league title in mind – an idea he admitted yesterday to having toyed with. “If you look at the points we have lost in the league, most came when we were in the Champions League,” Smith said.

“I left Barry out against Hearts [in September] and we lost. There are some players we have to keep playing all the time – Carlos Cuéllar, David Weir, Allan McGregor, Barry Ferguson. At the start of the season I would have said that domestic competition was our priority, but now that we are here, we want to do well.”

The team have been practising penalties in case the match finishes goalless after extra time, which would extend Rangers’ run of successive clean sheets to nine in all competitions, but they face a strong challenge at a full Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium.

Fortunately, Ferguson relishes hostile crowds. “I’ve played against PAOK Salonika years ago and that was a hostile atmosphere,” he said. “I like it when the crowd is on your back, throwing things at you. People talk about [Red Star] Belgrade in the Champions League qualifier, but I didn’t think it was that bad. I thought it was going to be more intimidating. I was expecting guys to be jumping at you with knives, but it was fine.”

Smith added some perspective. “Most of our players have played at Celtic Park,” he said.

Panathinaikos (possible; 4-4-2): M Galinovic – M Nilsson, I Goumas, N Morris, L Vintra – A Tziolis, M De Mattos, M Simão, G Karagounis – H Postiga, D N’Doye.

Rangers (possible; 4-1-4-1): A McGregor – K Broadfoot, C Cuéllar, D Weir, S Papac – B Hemdani – N Novo, B Ferguson, S Davis, L McCulloch – K Boyd. Referee: F Brych (Germany).

Television: BBC Two Scotland from 5pm (kick-off 5pm).