RANGERS will look to their 50-year European record to reach the Uefa Cup last eight.

They take a 2-0 lead to Werder Bremen's Weserstadion in next week's last 16 second leg.

And the omens are very much in favour of Walter Smith's side.

In almost 50 years in Europe, Rangers have won nine home legs by the scoreline they secured against the Germans, courtesy of goals from Daniel Cousin and Steven Davis.

And, on eight occasions, that 2-0 first leg foundation has been enough to see the Ibrox men into the next round.

Ironically, the only time Rangers have ever gone out of Europe after winning a home leg 2-0 was to a Bundesliga side - when they were knocked out the Uefa Cup by Borussia Dortmund on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw back in 1999.

Midfielder Brahim Hemdani knows that the job is far from complete against a side who are currently second in the Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich. But he is also aware that if Gers can continue their ability to find a goal on their travels, then Bremen would need four to knock them out.

Hemdani said: "We produced a great performance and we deserved our victory. We scored two goals and it could have been three at the end. It was a very big performance.

"It's a good result to go over there with a clean sheet. But you never know away from home.

"I think the first 15 or 20 minutes will be vital because if they score early on there will be just one goal in it and anything can happen.

"We will have to be careful. There is still work to do and they will want to play much better in front of their home fans.

"But we know if we score then that counts as double and it could really change things. We have scored in away games like Zeta, Stuttgart, Lyon and Panathinaikos - so why not again?"

Hemdani admitted boss Walter Smith got his tactics bang on by switching to a 4-2-3-1 system that smothered the threat of Bremen dangerman Diego.

And the French-Algerian also praised Daniel Cousin for his contribution after the big striker - who saw his £3m move to Fulham collapse last week - blast home the opening goal with a helping hand from blunder keeper Tim Wiese.

"The manager was very deliberate in what he wanted us to do and we worked on our system in the build-up to the game," added Hemdani.

"Our organisation was excellent and we made it difficult for them to play. Having Christian Dailly alongside me was a good move as sometimes he covered my area, and at other times I covered his.

"We knew if we could stop them from coming through we would have a good chance. And, although we got a bit of luck with Daniel's goal, we deserved to win.

"It has been a tough time for Daniel. But he showed last night what a top striker he is and everyone can see he is determined to do well."