RANGERS defender Sasa Papac claims the Ibrox side ran out of luck in the last leg of their UEFA Cup run when they were beaten 2-0 by Zenit St Petersburg in the final at the City of Manchester Stadium.
The Light Blues put up a stern battle until the 72nd minute when Igor Denisov scored the opener for the Russian club and as Rangers tried desperately to get back level, Konstatin Zyryanov's injury-time tap-in gave the St Petersburg side their first E
uropean trophy.
Papac believes the good fortune the Light Blues enjoyed in previous rounds deserted them against the Russians.
The 28-year-old Bosnian said: "It is hard to take. We played well in the UEFA Cup and also in the Champions League this season and we must be happy with that.
"Somebody has to lose in a final but it is very painful.
"Zenit are a very good team and played well against us.
"But we had some good moments for about 25 or 30 minutes in the second half and we made some chances.
"However, we were not lucky last night in the way we were against Fiorentina in the semi-final or Sporting Lisbon before that."
Walter Smith's men must shrug off their disappointment to get back into the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title race, starting against Motherwell on Saturday.
Rangers are trailing Celtic by four points but have two games in hand over the champions.
Papac said: "After losing the UEFA Cup final, it is important that we win the SPL.
"We must be strong now.
"We have to win three games and so we must do all we can do to win the title."
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