Steven Davis believes a dismal showing in the Champions League last season will spur Rangers on this time around.
Hopes were high 12 months ago only for Walter Smith's men to finish bottom of the group without a single point at home, including a 4-1 humbling to Romanians Unirea Urziceni at Ibrox. This season sees the Scottish champions face an even tougher group in the shape of Manchester United, Valencia and Turkish champions Bursaspor but Davis insists Rangers must do better.
He said: "Last year was a real disappointment for us. We looked at the group and we were optimistic going into it and it didn't happen for us. With the teams we are playing this year, they are games to look forward to. They are going to be a real test for us but they are games the boys are looking forward to playing in."
Davis continued: "It's a very strong group. We've had a tough draw but, at the same time, you want to play against the best in the competition, those are the games you want to play in.
"Manchester United get to the latter stages of the competition every year and Valencia are a strong side even though they lost a couple of players in the summer. Bursaspor are a bit of an unknown quantity to us but they are obviously a very good side, having won the Turkish league."
Rangers lost several players over the summer, while adding James Beattie, Vladimir Weiss, Richard Foster on loan and Nikica Jelavic, although the latter is ineligible for the Champions League.
Asked if they have a better squad now than a year ago, Davis admitted: "I'm not too sure to be honest.
"It's good that the club has been able to sort itself out a little bit in terms of being able to bring in a couple of players.
"We lost a number of players throughout the summer and it was good that we could bring a couple of new faces in and freshen things up a bit for us. It has given us good competition for places again.
"We started the campaign well the last time against Stuttgart away and it was the home form that let us down. If you are going to go further in the group, you need to sort out your home form first and foremost so we have to try to get that sorted out."
Source: PA
