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UEFA CUP: Coaches confident for Lisbon decider

/noticias.info/ The Rangers FC manager Walter Smith had no complaints about the scoreless home draw against Sporting Clube de Portugal, and hopes the Scottish club's away form in Europe this season will see them through when the quarter-final concludes in the Portuguese capital next week. Sporting's Paulo Bento was also confident, saying his team were "tactically and technically better" at Ibrox, from where uefa.com hears from the coaches.

Walter Smith, Rangers manager
In the opening period Sporting started the game better but then, for the next hour, there was not much between the teams. In the end, a couple of unforced errors gave them a couple of chances. We don't have any complaints about the result as there were very few chances throughout the game. There is a bit of frustration as we have not played as well tonight as we have done in other European home games this season. I'm a bit disappointed not to have tested their keeper a bit more. But there were very few opportunities for either team. I expect the away game to go along similar lines and be quite close. We have shown in our away European games this season that we can score goals and we will look to do that next week. We have scored at Panathinaikos, Lyon and Stuttgart this season. Hopefully we can repeat this next week. We know we will have to score if we are to progress in the competition.

Paulo Bento, Sporting coach
It was, of course, our objective to win the match. Rangers played really well and they are strong defensively. We know we will have to play well in the second match. It is still 50-50 for each team to go through to the next round. In the first half our final ball to our strikers was not very good. We did not use the space we created. In the second half we did better, but we didn't score. We attacked better, though, and our overall game was a lot better. We have to be confident for the next match. We were tactically better and we were technically better as well. We have to keep our emotions and show we are the better team in the next game. The fact we did not score is the reality. We have to score more goals and control the game. If Rangers score one goal then we have to score two. So we hope to be better in the second leg in Portugal. notas_de_prensa_archivo