The Scottish champions remain in the hunt for four trophies this season following the away goals win in Lisbon.

That means they still have to juggle domestic commitments with Europe with a small squad depleted by injury.

But Smith said: "We will have to wait and see how the season unfolds before we see if there is any great impact.

"You can't pick and choose. We would never consider it an inconvenience qualifying for a round in Europe.

"We are pleased to do so. There's a pressure on Scottish clubs to do as well as they can so that our co-efficient level gets as high as possible. "

With a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Ibrox, the tie was tipped in the favour of Sporting ahead of tonight's clash at the Jose Alvalade stadium.

But their away goal advantage was wiped out when El-Hadji Diouf netted the opener and his first goal for Rangers.

The home side looked set to progress when they hit back through goals from former Rangers midfielder Pedro Mendes and Yannick Djalo.

But the Scots left it late when Maurice Edu grabbed the tie's decisive goal in injury-time to make it 2-2 on the night and secure the win on away goals.

Smith said: "We are pleased to get through.

"We started the game slowly but we managed to get a goal. There wasn't much between the teams in the second half at all.

"With the circumstances of getting the goal, we are pleased to progress.

"We are disappointed with the way we lost the first goal as we should have handled it better with the height that we have got.

"Overall it is a system that has been reasonably successful in European games this season. "