The improbable dream finally evaporated in the chill of a Manchester evening. The memories, though, will linger for a long, long time. Rangers� journey to the 2008 final deserves its place in Scottish football folklore.

THE improbable dream finally evaporated in the chill of a Manchester evening. The memories, though, will linger for a long, long time. Rangers' journey to the 2008 final deserves its place in Scottish football folklore. The purists will continue to voice their disapproval, but the scale of the achievement should transcend the aesthetics of how it was achieved. Walter Smith's side have defied everyone's expectations, including their own.

More importantly it has given them, and their manager, a platform to build on. Smith's failure to achieve on the European stage was the one black mark on his cv. In his first spell at Ibrox he lavished money attempting to do so. His belated success has come with a team assembled for a fraction of the cost. That fact says everything about how much he has improved as a manager in the intervening years. Smith will now buy more creative players in the summer and seek to prove that he can build a team capable of self-expression. It will be the greatest challenge of his managerial career.

His 2007-08 team cannot be faulted on any other level. They have character and a spirit that has compensated for their deficiencies. That was proved once again against a fluid and incisive Zenit St Petersburg side. The Russians blew away Bayern Munich in the semi-final but needed some extra puff to overcome Rangers. In the end, it took them 72 minutes to finally break them down.

Inevitably, Smith's men adopted their usual policy of containment in an attempt to eke out another memorable triumph. Their efforts were embodied by Barry Ferguson. The Rangers captain has played an influential role in their run to the final and covered every blade of grass last night.

As a life-long fan, the significance of the occasion would not have been lost on him. The excitement and nerves would have set in as the bus pulled out of the team's base at Mottram Hall in Cheshire. On reaching the city itself, he would have been greeted with one of the most hysterical occupations ever seen on these shores - tens of thousands of Rangers fans pinking in the afternoon sun serving as a sharp reminder, if any were needed, of the historic nature of the match. As the stadium loomed, he would have reflected on the atmosphere that lay ahead, the challenge of overcoming the tournament's top scorers and Dick Advocaat.

There was a plaintive tone to the former Rangers manager's reflections on Ferguson last week. The Dutchman galvanised the midfielder's Rangers career at the age of 20 and believes he has failed to truly fulfil his talents in the decade since. "He should be at Arsenal or Manchester United," said Advocaat. "He is not a lesser player than Owen Hargreaves and some others." Ferguson spent a period at Blackburn Rovers, but returned home after 18 months. He is now 30 and surely a Rangers player for life. Advocaat's claims as to his true talents will remain unproven.

Ferguson is old enough to realise that occasions like these are a rarity, both in a player's career and a club's history. This was the biggest night of his life; the opportunity to become the ninth Scotsman - in a list which comprises Billy Bremner, Billy McNeill, Bobby Moncur, Frank McLintock, John Greig, John McGovern, Willie Miller and Graeme Souness - to captain their side to European glory.

He was faced with a familiar adversary. Anatoliy Tymoschuk is Zenit's captain and creative fulcrum and Ferguson played against the Ukranian twice in Scotland's last qualifying campaign. The blond midfielder made captain soon after completing his e15m move from Shakhtar Donetsk in February 2007.

It was Ferguson who made the first decisive contribution of the pair. In the seventh minute, he slipped a cute ball down the inside left channel for the marauding Jean-Claude Darcheville. The Frenchman hit the byline and cut it back to Ferguson, who had motored into the box, but the ball was cut out as he slid in. Tymoschuk has tried his luck with a long-range effort just prior failed to trouble Neil Alexander.

The Ukranian occupied a deep position and scurried around in front of his back four fetching and carrying. Ferguson, more advanced, was effectively playing up against Tymoschuk but Rangers were sitting too deep in the first half for him to make many telling contributions. He managed one just before the interval when he foraged for possession then played in Darcheville, who was fouled on the edge of the box. However, Kevin Thomson's free kick was hit straight into the wall.

The Rangers captain was then involved in a controversial moment 10 minutes after the interval. A move involving Kirk Broadfoot and Steven Davis ended with a Darcheville shot that was parried by the keeper. As the rebound pinged around the box, the ball broke to Ferguson, who attempted to scoop it towards goal, but his effort was blocked by Igor Denisov. Initially, it appeared as though it had struck his hand but replays showed it came off his side.

Ferguson became an increasingly forlorn figure as the half elapsed and Rangers struggled to cross the halfway line. Denisov's goal in the 72nd minute after an eye-of-the-needle ball from Andrei Arshavin punctured the resistance. Konstatin Zyrianov drove another dagger through the heart in injury time.

At the end, Ferguson slumped to his knees and gazed at the turf. He then trudged up to pick up his medal as the last squad member, emotion welling up. Ferguson may not play for Manchester United or Arsenal, but he still has more to achieve with this Rangers team.