Terry Butcher believes Rangers face their own version of Artmedia Bratislava in the Champions League qualification tie against FBK Kaunas.

The Scotland assistant manager, recovering from a long-awaited knee replacement operation, sees a Rangers team in poor health after a raft of injuries. Walter Smith will attempt to navigate the club to a £10m jackpot minus his captain, Barry Ferguson, for the next three months and Rangers' player of the year, Carlos Cuellar, for the defining first leg against the Lithuanian champions.

Kyle Lafferty, the £3.4m summer signing from Burnley, has made only one pre-season appearance since damaging a muscle, while DaMarcus Beasley's hamstring problem has compounded the long-term absences of Steven Naismith and Chris Burke.

That puts even greater pressure on the Clydesdale Bank Premier League runners-up to overcome a team on an 18-game winning run. Gordon Strachan remains scarred by his introduction to Scottish football management, the 5-0 defeat inflicted on an underprepared Celtic by Vladimir Weiss's Slovaks.

"This could be Rangers' Bratislava," said Butcher. "I don't mean in terms of scoreline but in terms of potential peril. It shows how crucial winning the SPL really is because Celtic don't have to worry about qualifying and risk the kind of disaster they had against Artmedia.

"Rangers want to avoid that but the omens are not good. Rangers have had an indifferent pre-season, while FBK are on a great run. Everybody expects Rangers to beat them but this is the kind of obstacle that has proven difficult before. In recent seasons, they have not eased themselves into the Champions League but scraped through."

Rangers' cause has not been helped by the motivational meeting chaired by Hearts' principal shareholder, Vladimir Romanov. The owner of FBK Kaunas has already offered the incentive of Western recognition, in the form of a future move to Tynecastle, for those who thrive against the odds.

"Kaunas' players have a great incentive to do well here," said Butcher. "Vladimir Romanov has already given the pep talk and as well as representing Lithuania, the players will be playing for their futures.

A good result and performance against Rangers and they might end up at Hearts."

Injuries will dictate Smith's first competitive line-up of the new season. The conservative 4-1-4-1 system helped Rangers work their way to the UEFA Cup final but Butcher is convinced the absence of Ferguson leaves the manager with little option but to deploy extra width.

"I would imagine more of a 4-3-3 than a 4-1-4-1," he said. "The real problem they have is the lack of invention in midfield. The injury to Barry Ferguson is a real blow because they now have a lot of similar-style players in the middle. Who do you ask to play that role? Charlie Adam? I know Lee McCulloch has played there pre-season but there is too much at stake for that kind of gamble.

"That is why I think they have to utilise the width because there is no box-to-box player in the middle. It will mean players playing out of position but Nacho Novo is used to that and so too is Kenny Miller. They will give pace and support."

The other dilemma facing the manager is whether to partner David Weir with the youthful vitality of Kirk Broadfoot or the reliability of Christian Dailly. For Butcher, it is a no-brainer under the circumstances.

"I think the manager will go for the experience of Dailly beside Weir," he said. "Broadfoot had great experience in Europe last season but not as a centre-back. If he gets the chance then it will be a moment of reckoning for him. Mistakes were excused last season because right back was not his natural position. If he makes any mistakes at centre-back then there is no excuse because that is the position in which he built his career."

Butcher is only just regaining mobility after the two-hour operation to replace his left knee. His increasingly laboured, knock-kneed gait is a legacy of his uncompromising career for England, Ipswich and Rangers. It has been a source of gentle jibes over the years but after 15 years of suffering, he has undergone phase one of the surgery that will restore his quality of life.

"It was a big operation but one I had to get," he said. "It was wear and tear but I was becoming badly knock-kneed and the pain was becoming unbearable. When the weather turned bad, my knees would be in agony with the arthritis and even simple things like walking up a hill or getting out the car were becoming arduous because the knees could buckle and give way at any time. At times, I would have to hold on to the car door to stop me from collapsing.

"It probably started in my 30s but really started to get worse in the past five years and I'd be lying if I said it didn't affect my coaching work on the pitch. I got the left one done, which was the most painful one, and then I will get the other one at the end of the season."

In spite of the morphine and super-strength painkillers, his sense of humour has remained intact. "Do I feel like a new man? I feel like half a new man . . . wait a minute, didn't he play left-back for Rangers?"