Arveladze plots a way round Ferdinand

Shota Arveladze, unlike Rio Ferdinand, knows there are some callers that you just do not put off. If the Manchester United defender thinks that drug testers can be persistent, he should try the Inland Revenue for size.

That is what Arveladze had to do when he played in Holland and investigators walked into his last club, Ajax, and went through the books. The Rangers striker was not guilty of any offence, but his £3 million transfer from the Turkish club Trabzonspor was one of the deals put under the microscope.

On Tuesday night, Arveladze will be looking for a pay-off. The gifted Georgian striker is convinced that Rangers have it within themselves to inflict defeat upon Manchester United and upset the formbook in Champions' League Group E once again.

Despite defeat against Sir Alex Ferguson's team at Ibrox 11 days ago, the Scottish champions are heading to Old Trafford in a mood of buoyant optimism.

Arveladze might rate Ferdinand as one of the best defenders around - and he regularly encountered a United predecessor, Jaap Stam, when he was playing in Holland - but he feels Rangers are due a return on their frustrating night in Glasgow, when half-a-dozen chances failed to yield a single goal.

"We could have got a point," Arveladze reflected. "Now we really have to fight for that, but I think we can make it. I don't want to say we will beat Manchester United, but why not? We have to be positive after the [first] game, when we created six or seven good chances to score."

The experience must have drained Ferdinand and Co. They conceded three goals at home to Fulham just three days later. "Of course United have weaknesses," Arveladze reflected. "I just don't want to say - I'll keep them to myself."

The Georgian, however, felt that Ferdinand dealt with the external pressures that must have cut across his mind before playing at Ibrox. "He really impressed me," declared Arveladze. "I've played against England twice, and it was [Sol] Campbell and [Tony] Adams. They didn't impress me. This performance by Ferdinand was really great.

"I didn't expect that much but he was very cool, very good. Especially after the stories surrounding him. I've played against Nesta and Maldini for Italy and Köhler and Sammer for Germany, but Ferdinand is up there. Every touch was perfect. He knew what he was doing."

Yet, Arveladze's own problems in Holland - where he spent four years with Ajax and regularly joined a certain Ruud van Nistelrooy (then at PSV Eindhoven) at the top of the scorers' charts - gives him an empathy with the Manchester United player.

"I never wish for any football player to be banned," he said. "I'm 100 per cent sure he just forgot [about the drug test]. We are normal people, everybody could forget."

Arveladze, though, believes that Rangers have no reason to fear their night out at the Theatre of Dreams. "Our players have played at high levels, in World Cups, and two have won the Champions' League. But the hype before the first game was huge. Everywhere you went, everybody asked about the Manchester United game."

Arveladze - whose goal in the qualifying round at FC Copenhagen booked Rangers' place in the lucrative group stage - has had more responsibility thrust on to his slim shoulders because of the failure of others at Ibrox to find the net recently. Alex McLeish knows that his team, shorn of the injured Ronald de Boer and the departed Barry Ferguson, are missing their scoring contribution.

"Any team would welcome back a great player like De Boer. Ronald and Barry combined last year with almost 40 goals, so we've got to throw that gauntlet down to other players to provide that sort of return for us this season. The plan is to come back from Manchester with something."

McLeish has studied a video tape of Fulham's exuberant win which punctured United's satisfaction days after the first instalment of the Battle of Britain. "United were just the way we were at Livingston that day," he says. "There was no spark. Fulham were brave, they had fantastic pace up front. United had Scholes out injured and Keane rested, and the ones who came in didn't manage to provide the spark they required.

"I don't think United will be as flat for this one as they were for Fulham. They know what's at stake, and that a slip-up could cost them. There haven't been too many in the last nine or 10 years, but we've got to go down there and be positive."

McLeish has been around Old Trafford when United's European reputation counted for nothing. This student of football - courtesy of tickets supplied by his old boss, Ferguson - was there when Borussia Dortmund and Monaco tasted Champions' League success there. "I like to think I am a jinx," said the Rangers boss.