Gers star: Heavy schedule could help us

Walter Smith's men head into Wednesday's clash having had to play three Scottish Premier League games in seven days after failing in their bid to have a free weekend before their first European final in 36 years.

In contrast, Zenit had three league matches postponed to aid their preparations for the match at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Dick Advocaat did arrange for his players to play a friendly against AK Alkmaar in his native Holland at the weekend in a bid to maintain some match sharpness.

But Whittaker is hoping that the fact that Rangers have had competitive action in recent days will make all the difference and give them the edge.

"Some players like to play games to keep their match fitness up," said the utility man.

"Sometimes, when you have a break, it takes you time to get back into the games. We are not looking upon it as a negative.

"We will just play the games that have to be played and, hopefully, we will put in good performances that will get us the results.

"There are two weeks to go and we are ready for the games that are coming our way."

Rangers flew into Manchester on Monday and Whittaker admits that the enormity of the occasion will probably not hit home until they arrive in the north of England.

He said: "You try to imagine what it's going to be like, but I don't think, until the day, you can really imagine what it's going to be like. We are all looking forward to it, it's going to be a fantastic couple of days."

Tens of thousands of Rangers fans are expected to descend upon Manchester whether they have tickets or not and Whittaker added: "You try to help friends and family, but you can only do so much, so it's tough luck to the ones who miss out."

Rangers remain in the hunt for an historic quadruple, with the League Cup already residing in the Ibrox trophy room.

"We are challenging and it's important we don't lose focus of what we can achieve," said Whittaker. "It would be fantastic if we could grab a few more trophies and that's what we will be aiming to do."