Rangers hint at twin-pronged assault on Stuttgart

Rangers manager Walter Smith has hinted that Kris Boyd could be handed the chance of resurrecting the club’s Champions League hopes against Stuttgart on Tuesday.

Boyd is a prolific scorer in domestic football but has spent most European nights on the bench with Kenny Miller usually given the nod in the lone striker role favoured by the Rangers boss.

Boyd’s only start in the competition was in a qualifying match against Montenegrin side Zeta back in July 2007 but he could finally be granted a big-game starting role as Smith considers using two strikers in a match Rangers must win to keep their hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages alive.

Boyd and Miller were both on the score sheet in the 3-0 win over Kilmarnock at the weekend and Smith admits he is tempted to stick with that combination.

“You are always tempted to play Kris,” Smith said. “There is always a temptation to play anyone who gets his number of goals and there has been since I came here.

“There have been some games where it has worked okay leaving him out and there have been some games where I wish I had put him in.”

Stuttgart sit 16th in the Bundesliga, without a win in their last six games, but Smith refused to read too much into their domestic form.

“It’s not for us to look at really,” he said. “In the first half-hour against us, Stuttgart showed that they have quality players. There is no doubt they have a high quality of player.

“They will be disappointed by their start to the season but there are quite a number of clubs who are maybe not doing so well in their own league but handle the Champions League better and that can become a focal point for them.

“For both Stuttgart and ourselves, the main aspect of this game is, after not having had the results we would have wanted, we still find ourselves in the position where we can qualify.

“That’s what makes the game interesting as much as anything else.”

Smith believes Rangers have shown a marked improvement since the 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Champions League debutants Unirea Urziceni in their last Champions League game at Ibrox.

He said: “Since the Unirea game, which was by far our poorest performance since I came back to Rangers three years ago, we have picked up.

“There has been a better edge to our game and that also showed in the return game against Unirea. Our form has picked up, we have been better and hopefully we can continue that.”