This isn't the time to lick our wounds ...Treble can heal the pain

Gers midfielder Hemdani was, like the rest of his team mates, inconsolable after the Ibrox club's 2-0 defeat to Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday night in Manchester.

However, the French- Algeria understands there is no time to reflect on the agonising end to what was an amazing European adventure.

Walter Smith's mentally and physically drained side have four games in the space of just seven days which will make or break their season.

They take on Motherwell at Fir Park tomorrow, St Mirren at Love Street on Monday and Aberdeen in their final SPL outing at Pittodrie on Thursday.

Two days later, in a finale to the 2007/08 season which has angered their legions of loyal fans, they will play Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden.

Yet, Brahim has stressed a collective determination to land some silverware and bury the memory of their heartache in Manchester will help drive the squad on.

He stated: "When I lost the Uefa Cup Final back in 2004 with Marseille, I had never felt so bad. Now, sadly, I have that same feeling all over again.

"I am very disappointed that, after putting so much into our games in Europe this season, we have ended up with nothing to show for our efforts.

"I am very sorry for the fans, too. Their support throughout the campaign was incredible. The number of people who turned up to back us in the final was amazing.

"But because of the number of games we still have to play we can't afford to feel sorry for ourselves. We have to get some rest and stay focused on matches we have coming up.

"We've won the CIS Cup and we can win the SPL title and the Scottish Cup. Having reached a European final, that would still be a pretty fantastic season for us."

With Rangers trailing Zenit by 1-0 in the Uefa Cup Final, Hemdani was substituted for Lee McCulloch in the second-half as his side pushed for an equaliser. Sadly, for the tens of thousands of supporters who had made an emotional pilgrimage to England, their heroes were unable to get back on level terms.

Brahim, though, feels the players can hold their heads up high for their performance against the impressive Russian outfit managed by former Gers manager Dick Advocaat.

And he thinks if they had got a lucky break and taken one of the goalscoring chances they carved out there could easily have been a different final outcome.

He recalled: "I thought we defended well as a team, as we have done in Europe all season, and prevented them from creating good chances.

"It took a move of a very high quality for them to finally go in front. I think the goal in injury-time was as a result of us putting on three more strikers and going for a goal.

"But we had good chances ourselves. Jean-Claude forced a good save from their keeper. Nacho had a half chance at the end. And I thought we should have been awarded a penalty.

"Unfortunately, it was just not to be. But once the sadness goes, after a few days or even weeks, I think we can feel proud of our play in the final and in Europe."

The 30-year-old feels Zenit benefited from having a break before the Final. Rangers were upset the SPL refused to give them a weekend off ahead of their first Euro final in 36 years.

The Ibrox club's game against Dundee United last Saturday was their fourth in the last nine days and, at times, that showed against their far fresher-looking opponents.

Brahim said: "I'm not using it as an excuse, but you could tell that the Zenit players were at a far earlier stage in their season than we were.

"Some of our players, guys like Davie (Weir) and Carlos (Cuellar), have played over 60 games this season and we have certainly had a hectic schedule in the last few weeks.

"Still, we have to put the number of games that we have played out of our minds. We have to be ready to play and play well in four very difficult games this week.

"The boys are very down, but I don't think there will be any problem getting ourselves up for Motherwell."