RANGERS were last night facing the prospect of playing their Champions League match away to Inter Milan behind closed doors unless UEFA sanction a proposal by the Italian club to play them at a neutral venue or twice at Ibrox.
The trip to the San Siro on September 28 to play last year's beaten finalists was one of the top games on offer to the Ibrox club in the group stages of the competition when the draw was made in Monaco yesterday.
Rangers will also play Porto, who won the Champions League and UEFA Cup in the past two years, and Artmedia Bratislava, who defeated Celtic in the top tournament's preliminary stages.
However, the Ibrox club's enthusiasm about the draw - which could have thrown up more difficult challenges - has been tempered by the fact that their supporters will not be allowed to attend the match against Inter in Milan because UEFA punished the Italian club for crowd trouble in last year's quarter-final with AC Milan.
European football's governing body imposed a four-match ban on Inter and, because only one of those has been served, the Italian club will have to play their three homes ties without spectators in the San Siro. Despite Inter's proposal, UEFA are not expected to alter the punishment.
Alex McLeish, the Rangers manager, last night described the prospect of playing without spectators in Milan as "horrendous" while Martin Bain, the Rangers chief executive, said it was as a "huge disappointment" for the club's supporters.
He would be recommending they should not travel to Italy.
Playing in an empty stadium, without a partisan crowd, might boost Rangers' chances of winning valuable points against the Italians but McLeish said it would still be a difficult fixture.
He said: "It strikes me as horrendous that we will have to play in an empty stadium. It will be an eerie atmosphere and I think it might be hard to adjust to that so we will really have to think about this.
"I certainly never played in any completely empty stadiums in my time. Of course, Inter have a tremendous name in European football and they can boast some superb footballers.
They have an excellent coach in Roberto Mancini so we know we face very difficult matches against them. However, we are absolutely delighted to be in this kind of company and we want to make an impact."
Bain said: "Rangers is a club renowned for having a massive travelling support, so it is going to come as a huge disappointment to many, many supporters. Those are the rules and we will abide by them. We will advise the fans not to travel."
Mancini said Inter were hopeful that UEFA would "consider our proposal to play on a neutral pitch or even twice away from home instead of behind closed doors", adding that the gate receipts could be given to charity.
Commenting on the draw, McLeish said: "There is no doubt we face some difficult games. We could have been handed an easier draw but we could have suffered a tougher one. I just feel that whatever you get you have to get on with it.
"What I would say is that I would love us to do better than we did two years ago. We don't want to be in the group phase simply to make up the numbers. It is my hope that we can be competitive in all of the matches we play and hopefully achieve some success.
"It is interesting that we will be facing Co Adriaanse [the Porto manager] again having come up against him last season [against Dutch club Alkmaar in the UEFA Cup].
"We lost narrowly to Alkmaar, despite playing well in the second half and I wonder if he will adopt the same kind of tactics at Porto as he did in Holland."
Mancini said Group H was "a tough group because Porto are a team that play football well and Rangers are particularly fearsome at home."
Arthur Numan, the former Rangers defender, said: "We can be happy with the draw. A lot of supporters will be looking forward to the game with Bratislava because they put Celtic out.
"The main priority was to qualify for the group, but, looking at the draw, Rangers now have a good chance to go through. I don't expect a very entertaining game against the Italians, but we have a chance against Porto, who have some good quality players, but are not the team they were two years ago."
Celtic lost 5-0 away to Artmedia Bratislava and won the second leg 4-0 scoreline but despite the Parkhead club's encounterwith them, Bain was not expecting a detailed scouting report to be sent over from Celtic Park.
The lure of playing in such glamorous champions league fixtures has made the Rangers players whose futures are in doubt at the club, particularly Peter Lovenkrands and Michael Ball, keen to impress McLeish.
Lovenkrands, who went on trial with Middlesbrough last month, has been playing like a man possessed since the start of the season. He has a year left on his contract and wants to win a new deal and the porpsect of playing against Inter, Porto and Artmedia has strengthened his resolve. He said: "The Champions League is always fun to play in and I hope I can be part of it. Hopefully I can get a new contract. I will keep working away."
Lovenkrands scored the winner in Rangers' first group game against VfB Stuttgart two years ago but the Danish winger believes the current side is stronger than that of 2003, which contained unsuccessful Bosmans such as Nuno Capucho and Emerson.
"Hopefully we can do better and I think we have a wee bit stronger a team this time, " he said. "It looks like we are linking up great and the new players have settled in well.
"The team just now feels so good and the atmosphere in the dressing room is tremendous. That means a lot when you go on to the pitch."
Ball, meanwhile, has a more pragmatic approach to his situation, but is clearly excited at the prospect of Champions League football. "There's always talk about myself but there's nothing I can do about it. If the club want to get rid of me then they can come and speak to me. No-one's really said anything to me.
"The reason I signed here was to play Champions League football and to be contesting for medals and championships.
My first 90 minutes of the season was against [Famagusta] away and since then I feel like I've been improving every game and enjoying it.
"Now we're in the Champions League you want to test yourself against the best. Every player in the world wants to be part of this."
GROUP H
Sep 13 Rangers v FC Porto
Sep 28 Inter Milan v Rangers
Oct 19 Rangers v Artmedia Bratislava
Nov 1 Artmedia Bratislava v Rangers
Nov 23 FC Porto v Rangers
Dec 6 Rangers v Inter Milan
Lowdown on Rangers' rivals, Page 43
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