Wednesday night's (Thursday morning in Australia) final at the City of Manchester stadium between the Scottish side and Dick Advocaat's Zenit St Petersburg looms as an intriguing clash.

But the Melbourne Victory captain says the crowd support will be a key factor. “There are even suggestions that there'll be 100,000 fans going down to Manchester,” he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“I've spoken to a few people and we all know that the Scottish fans do travel well and in numbers.

“And the thing with Scottish fans is they'll just want to be part of it – for those without tickets they'll watch it in the pubs in Manchester to soak up the atmosphere. And they are mostly well behaved and it's just a big party.”

Muscat enjoyed a short stint with Rangers, joining in 2002 but moving on to Millwall the following season. “I've still got one or two friends back there – Barry Ferguson for instance, and so I'll be watching the UEFA Cup final with great interest.

“I certainly enjoyed my time there. In terms of football it was difficult at such a challenging club with so many good players but certainly, overall, I haven't got any regrets.

“We won the treble, and the 50th championship, so there were a lot of milestones and to have played with my best mate [Craig Moore] and won some medals with him and a successful time.”

Muscat says the Advocaat connection gives the game special significance to for the many Rangers fans.

“He'll get a rousing reception from the Rangers fans. He transformed the club to another level.”

The Dutchman – who reneged on a deal to coach the Socceroos late last year – coached the Scottish club between 1998 and 2001 winning the treble in his first season. Ironically, he replaced Walter Smith, who will sit opposite him in the Rangers dugout in Manchester tonight.

“You couldn't have written the script any better. [Victory's Scottish midfielder] Grant Brebner and I would look at the draw as the tournament went on and we'd say “it's going to happen, they'll play in the final'.