Rangers midfielder Lee McCulloch insists the Ibrox club remain favourites to progress to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, despite drawing a blank in the home leg of their quarter-final against Sporting Lisbon.

The Light Blues turned in arguably their most impotent performance of the season at Ibrox on Thursday night, with only a couple of efforts from the Scotland player in the first half amid 90 minutes of toil.

However, McCulloch insists the Clydesdale Bank Premier League leaders are more than capable of winning through to the semis in the second leg in Portugal next week.

He said: "The ball is still in our court.

"We would liked to have scored. But it's not the end of the world, and we won't let our heads go down.

"We didn't play well, and there was a lot of route-one football. But we didn't concede - and that is the positive thing.

"We have been hard to play against and hard to score against this season, so I think that if we can nick a goal then we have every chance."

Rangers have already proved this season they can score on their travels in Europe.

"We are more than capable of going there and scoring, so that's why we will be confident," McCulloch added.

"They will be a good team at home; they made it difficult against us, especially in the second half.

"It wasn't our best night as a team. But they didn't blow us away, and we will be confident going over there."

Rangers will have to travel to Lisbon without Davie Weir, who picked up a booking in the second half which earned him a ban.

But McCulloch insists the Ibrox squad will be able to cope with the loss of the veteran defender, who has been a lynchpin in Walter Smith's side this season.

The former Motherwell and Wigan player said: "We are going to lose players through injury and suspension this season, but there's a couple of people who can come in.

"His experience will be a big loss, but we will just have to get on with it."

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