Smith admits Rangers face daunting Champions League mission

Rangers' manager Walter Smith, seen here in 2006, has admitted that his Scottish side would need to rob a bank to give his side a chance of competing on an equal footing with their Champions League opponents Barcelona, Lyon and Stuttgart.

Rangers manager Walter Smith admitted he would need to rob a bank to give his side a chance of competing on an equal footing with their Champions League opponents.

The Scottish Premier League club were drawn in a tough group with Barcelona, winners of the competition in 2006, French champions Lyon and German champions Stuttgart.

Smith knows Rangers' chances of qualifying for the last 16 are slim because they don't have the financial resources or quality of their three group rivals.

"There is no hiding the fact that given the quality of the opposition that it is going to be very hard for us," Smith said.

"Maybe if I could rob the bank for 60 million pounds or so to spend in the transfer market it would be a bit easier, but I'll just have to settle for a trophy from the bank and get on with the job of doing the best we can with the squad we have."

Smith believes Barcelona should win the group thanks to the Spanish club's wealth of attacking talent.

"Obviously Barcelona who are the top seeds will be the group favourites," he said. "I've just heard that Samuel Etoo is out injured for a couple of months so that only leaves them Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi, to name but a few of their strikers, for Frank Rijkaard to pick from.

"We can't afford to under-estimate any of the teams in Group E because they have all deservedly won their own league titles and have also strenghtened since then.

"The bottom line though is that we are dining at the top table which is where we want to be and plan to make the very best of it."

Rangers' Glasgow rivals Celtic renew old acquaintances after being drawn with reigning champions AC Milan, Portuguese side Benfica and Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk.

Gordon Strachan's team have faced all three clubs in the last three years, with Milan knocking them out last season.

"Obviously, it's a tough group and we probably wouldn't have wanted to be drawn against the two sides that we faced last year, AC Milan and Benfica," Strachan told Celtic's website.

"First of all, the fact that they are both good teams makes you think that way, but it's also for the fans. They would probably like to have seen us playing some new teams.

"The benefit is that we know what we are up against. We know the hotels, the flights, the logistics of going to all three places, because Celtic have been there in the last three or four years.

"Looking at the Milan and Benfica squads, there aren't too many changes from last season and that means we know what we are facing in those games.

"I've never been up against Shakhtar, but the club has been in Donetsk quite recently and we'll have a look at them over the next few weeks."