Barry Ferguson will equal David Narey’s Scottish record of 76 appearances in European competition here tonight as Rangers, who lead the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, attempt to continue to 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 assured the 800 supporters who are estimated to have made the trip that their team will be going all out to reach the next round, in which they would be likely to face Werder Bremen, who hold a 3-0 lead from their first-leg match against Braga.

“I’ve heard people say we might not be too bothered if we lose to Panathinaikos but that’s nonsense,” Ferguson said, contemplating the tie after the 0-0 draw in the first leg at Ibrox. “We want to win every game and every cup competition we enter. I certainly believe we can win the Uefa Cup this season. 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, I really do. 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. But at the end of the day we didn’t manage it and we’re now in the Uefa Cup.

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

For Ferguson, who turned 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. There are a good few years left in me so that would be a nice number to hit.

“I’ve never actually given it much thought to be honest, certainly not when I made my European debut. That was against Shelbourne down at Tranmere — 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 that he has toyed with, “even in the Champions League”.

“We’re a first-year team and it did affect us. If you look at the points we have lost in the Premier League, most came when we were in the Champions League. I left Barry out against Hearts and we lost. There are some players we have to keep playing all the time — Carlos Cuellar, David Weir, Allan McGregor, Barry Ferguson. If I had looked 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 the event that the match finishes goalless after extra-time, which would extend Rangers’ run of clean sheets to nine successive matches, but they face a strong challenge from the Greek league leaders, who will be backed by a full house at the compact Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium.

Fortunately, Ferguson relishes hostile crowds. “I’ve played against PAOK Salonika years ago and that was a hostile atmosphere,” he said. “It’s good to experience that. I like it when the crowd is on your back, throwing things at you.

“People talk about 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 disappointed after the way everyone made out. I was expecting guys to be jumping at you with knives but it was fine.”

And Smith put the subject into perspective. “Most of our players have played at Celtic Park,” he said.