Ugly anti-football reaches the UEFA Cup Final

Lionel Messi and Adrian Mutu are far from the only people to criticise the way Rangers play football this season, but they can't argue with its effectiveness. After a penalty shoot out in Tuscany last night, Rangers are in the final.

With respect to the rest of the team, at times it was Carlos Cuellar and Davie Weir against Fiorentina, as Rangers hung on and hung on against relentless pressure. Had Christian Vieri come on a little earlier, the chance that fell to him a couple of yards from goal might not have been his first touch and he might have buried it. Had Mutu gone down in the box later on when jostled by two Rangers players, Fiorentina could have had a penalty inside normal time. Ifs and buts, though... Fiorentina couldn't score in 3 and 1/2 hours of football, and Rangers came away with the prize.

Now things get really interesting. For the past few weeks, the European adventure has seemed like a distraction, allowing Celtic to win the past 2 Old Firm derbies and close the gap in the League. Without a doubt, stopping Celtic getting their third title in a row has been the priority for the blue half of Glasgow, and the narrowing race in the SPL - plus the injury list - has caused mounting anxiety.

However, Rangers have now emulated Celtic's achievement in 2003 in reaching the UEFA Cup Final. They came home from Seville empty-handed, save for the beginnings of a tale about how 4 million supporters (or something) created the best final atmosphere ever*.

It's unlikely Rangers will attempt to mythologise their own support in quite the same way. There have been enough distasteful scenes from their travelling support in the past couple of years to make such an attempt pointless. But they might just go to Manchester and win the damn cup. And that will be a far greater prize.