While Rangers were being held to a dispiriting 1-1 draw by bottom club Dunfermline at the weekend, Parma were warming up for Tuesday's third round clash with another impressive result - a 2-0 victory at Sampdoria.

And with the tie already tipped in Parma's favour, after the Italians claimed a vital 1-1 draw in the first leg a fortnight ago, Rangers would appear to be facing a enormous task.

Andrei Kanchelskis, Rangers' main weapon, clashes with Antonio Benarrivo

But manager Dick Advocaat is not concerned by his side's mini-slump, which started with the 5-1 humiliation by arch rivals Celtic.

He does not believe the Dunfermline result was due to a cautious approach ahead of the European showdown and feels his team are playing well enough at the moment.

"Parma was not a factor," he said. "That is always an easy excuse. If you see the game, we created many chances but failed to score.

"It could have been 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0 but instead it was 1-1 and that is a disappointing result.

"The only thing I can blame my players for is not taking chances."

Ferguson given 'job on Veron'

Advocaat confirmed that Ian Ferguson, who has spent much of the season on the bench, will return to the starting line-up - probably at the expense of Jorg Albertz. He has been given the specific job of keeping Parma's Argentine midfielder Sebastian Veron quiet.

"I have a tactical decision to make and there could be a little bit of a change," Advocaat said. "Ian Ferguson will play and I've marked him out for a special role on Veron."

Rangers will be without strikers Stephane Guivarc'h and Jonatan Johansson, who are ineligible and injured respectively.

With Gabriel Amato off form, Gordon Durie seems certain to partner Rod Wallace in the front line and much will depend on Andrei Kanchelskis providing quality service to the strike pair.

Dutch midfielder Giovanni van Bronckhorst returns to the side after missing the first leg through suspension.

Parma, who have beaten the likes of Juventus, Fiorentina and AC Milan at home this season, believe they have little to fear.

Alberto Malesani's team have the best defence in Italy's Serie A, including two of the stars of the last World Cup, Lilian Thuram of France and Italy's Fabio Cannavaro.

Parma, who lie second in the table, will be putting great store in their own front pairing of Argentinian Hernan Crespo and homegrown star Enrico Chiesa, who have scored 12 goals between them in Serie A.