The Ibrox club take on Zenit St Petersburg in the final at the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday night.

Rangers remain on course for a quadruple, with the UEFA Cup now arguably the most attractive of the trophies still up for grabs.

Smith freely admits to being surprised by his side's enduring continental campaign but having overcome Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina to reach their first European final in 36 years the Rangers boss is looking for one last push from his players.

"Once you reach the quarter-final stage, you start to think about the final and realise just how much it means to everyone," he said.

"It starts to take over everything else and it has done for the last few days. We had a difficult weekend and had to concentrate on that match but now that we are here we will try to win this trophy on Wednesday.

"We started the Champions League section very well and managed to get a place in the UEFA Cup.

"After a shaky start against Panathinaikos we picked up a little and the good results since then have taken us to the final.

"The European competition isn't one that we thought we would get this far in so it's a nice surprise for us and hopefully we will do well tomorrow night and win it.

"Zenit have also had a terrific season so it will be a very difficult game."

While Zenit had three league matches postponed to prepare for tomorrow's game, Rangers failed in their own bid to have a free weekend ahead of one of their biggest matches in years.

Dundee United succumbed to a 3-1 defeat at Ibrox on Saturday with the only negative fall-out from the win being the injury sustained by Kevin Thomson which could yet keep him out of the final.

But Smith insists all thoughts of fixture congestion and rows over league extensions must now be put on hold until after the clash with Zenit.

He said: "We would have liked a weekend off to catch our breath but we are over that.

"We played at 12.30pm on Saturday and we don't play until tomorrow night so it's probably the biggest gap we've had for some time so we are okay with that.

"The boys have settled down now and I'm sure all thoughts are now on playing the game. We have got over the part that might have been a problem injury-wise. We have come through that with one injury problem.

"We have managed to clear our heads and we now look forward to the game."

Celtic reached the UEFA Cup final in 2003, losing to Jose Mourinho's Porto, and Smith believes this is another chance to fly the flag for Scottish football.

"Scottish football will go on regardless of what happens on Wednesday night but it does bring a bit more credibility to the game in Scotland," he said.

"Sometimes people don't think it's of a good standard so it's nice for one of the clubs to get there and show that we can produce a level of football and that our teams can still compete for European trophies."

Rangers have been criticised for their cautious approach in both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup this season and required a tense penalty shoot-out to overcome Fiorentina in the last four after 210 minutes of football over the two legs ended goalless.

But Smith insisted: "We haven't been practising penalties. The final will be different from the knockout rounds.

"When you get to the final, it's just the circumstances of the game and how well you play in the game whether you win or lose.

"You can never tell how a final will go. All the other games were over two legs and in every round we have been at home first and have had to play the second game away from home. That has its own difficulties.

"When we come to the final the game will probably be different."

In contrast, Zenit overcame Bayern Munich in their semi-final with an emphatic 5-1 aggregate victory and, as far as Smith is concerned, that means Dick Advocaat's men are favourites to claim the trophy.

"It's difficult to try to assess a team until you have to play them," he said.

"But you only have to look at the semi-finals. The 1-1 draw in Munich was a terrific result for them and to win 4-0 at home was an exceptional result and probably one of the best results in all the European competitions this year.

"That's the measure of Zenit and how highly I regard them. It will be a very, very tough night for us."

Thomson faces a fitness test this evening, while Daniel Cousin misses out through suspension thanks to his red card against Fiorentina.

Goalkeeper Allan McGregor and Steven Naismith both remain on the sidelines through injury.

As for the rest of the squad, Smith admits shattering the dreams of those who do not make his team selection will be the toughest part of his job.

He said: "It's always difficult to leave players out, especially towards the end of the season when the games take on an extra level of importance.

"It's a difficult task for any manager but it's part and parcel of the job. It's not the nicest part of the job but it's essential.

"We have a group of players who this season have accepted that very well and not let it affect them at all. But it's still a difficult task."