Perhaps many years from now, long after he has hung up his boots and entered retirement, Barry Ferguson will sit down and take time to contemplate all that he has achieved during an eventful playing career. For now, though, the Rangers captain is too focused on the present and future to have any real interest in reminiscing at length about the past.

This evening, barring a minor catastrophe, Ferguson will line up against Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup last-16 tie at Ibrox, and in doing so will break Dave Narey's record for the number of competitive European appearances (77) by a Scottish player. Ferguson treats this line of enquiry as he would someone cold-calling at his front door; with utmost civility and courtesy but with little effort to hide his lack of genuine interest in the matter. The 30-year-old is not one to dwell unduly on proceedings past, whether it was last week or 10 years ago. That can wait.

"I didn't realise about that the European appearances record until the other week when we played Panathinaikos and I heard how many games I had played," he confessed.

"I knew last season that I broke John Greig's record for most European appearances for Rangers but to reach that 77 games is a great achievement. It's a proud moment for me and my family, a nice occasion. It's nice to make the history books and hopefully there will be plenty more."

Ferguson has been involved in many vital matches for Rangers since his European debut against Shelbourne in July 1998 but treats each one with equal importance. "Every game we play in Europe is a massive game. I've been asked plenty of times about my best game or best stadium but every game in Europe is a great occasion, especially at Ibrox."

One player who has become lodged in the Ferguson memory banks is Diego, Werder's mercurial Brazilian midfielder. The pair have crossed paths twice - in 2002 when Rangers played Santos in a pre-season match in New York and again in 2005 after Diego had made the switch to Porto - and Ferguson is well aware of the threat he poses tonight.

"I played against him years ago in America when we went on a tour to New York and again when he was at Porto. He's an excellent player. I've come up against so many quality players and it's always good to pit your wits against the best. He's certainly up there as one of the best."

Age has not wearied him thus far but, having recently turned 30, Ferguson is aware that there are now more playing days behind him than lie ahead. He has no plans to retire any time soon but has learned to savour his involvement in every match.

"As you get older you tend to enjoy it a lot more. Your career's a long time finished when you stop playing so I've got to enjoy every game I play in, no matter if it's a bounce game or a friendly game. I enjoy every game. I've got another couple of years left on his existing contract and hopefully another year or two after that. I guess there's every possibility I could sign on again."

Ferguson highlights Celtic's run to the UEFA Cup final in 2003 as evidence that Rangers can also progress to the latter stages of the same tournament five years on. Celtic paid for that extended European campaign by winning nothing domestically, but Ferguson is confident Rangers will not suffer the same fate.

"We've not won a trophy for three-and-a-half years so we want to get the first trophy of the season. But we also want to go as far as we can in the UEFA Cup. We just have to look at what Celtic did a number of years ago when they went all the way to Seville and were unlucky not to win it.

"If we get past Werder Bremen then you never know what might happen. I know Celtic won nothing that season but I'm pretty sure that won't happen to Rangers. There's a good determination in the place right now. Things are going great and we're still in all four competitions. It's easy enough to get to the end of the season and win nothing but there's a lot of guys in here who are desperate to win stuff and that's the way it should be."