GLASGOW (AFP) - Rangers boss Walter Smith believes an extension to the Scottish domestic season may become unavoidable in the event of his quadruple-chasing squad reaching the UEFA Cup final in May.

Smith's men were due to take on Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of their quarter-final tie here on Thursday and, with the League Cup already sitting in the Ibrox tropy room, they are on target to reclaim the Scottish Premier League title from Celtic as well as being favourites to the lift the Scottish Cup.

Meeting all those objectives would involve Rangers playing a total of 68 games this season and surviving a crammed end-of-season schedule.

"If, and it is a big 'if', we were to progress in all the tournaments then it becomes a situation where it's practically impossible for us to play the games," Smith acknowledged.

The former Scotland boss stressed that there had been no request from Rangers for a season extension -- a move that Celtic have said they will oppose.

But he added: "If we do carry on being successful and we have the number of games then, from our point of view, you'd expect a wee bit of help because it might become impossible for them not to extend the season to let us fit in the games.

"But so far no-one from Rangers has asked the SPL or anybody else to extend the season."

The logistics involved are giving football authorities a major headache but Smith has no fears about his players' ability to cope with an intense climax to the season.

"We've had a number of players that have played a number of games but only four or five have played a significant number," he said.

"The rest of the squad have not played so many that would affect them in that sense.

"What will affect them is from now on we have practically no breaks, we have to play three games a week at least until the end of the season, depending on how we go in the cup competitions we're left in.

"I don't think the majority of our squad have been overplayed and the ones who have played a number of games are the ones who can handle it.

"The squad is extremely fit, which is a credit to Adam Owen, our sports scientist, he makes sure their fitness levels are very good and their recovery has been excellent.

"I think we are only getting to the start of what could be a very exacting period as long as we're successful. If we're not, then we'll not have these number of games."

Rangers knocked out Germany's Werder Bremen in the last round and Smith was expecting another tough test from a more technical side.

"They play the game in a different manner as you'd expect from a Portuguese team -- they are more technically based although Bremen were more powerful."