Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Tue 10 Oct 2007Smith takes cautious routeGroup E/Olympique Lyon v Rangers:French footballers are entitled to have deep misgivings about facing any team from Scotland after the last two meetings at international level, but the Rangers manager, Walter Smith, is under no illusions about the magnitude of his team's task against Lyon this eveningScotland's successive European Championship qualifying victories over France, the last of which came only three weeks ago, has led many to suggest Rangers hold a psychological advantage over their hosts for this intriguing Group E encounter. The French champions, moreover, were soundly beaten 3-0 by Barcelona in their opening group match a fortnight ago while Smith's men defeated Stuttgart on a rousing occasion at Ibrox.