PARIS ST GERMAIN are confident of lifting their first European trophy in Brussels tonight but outsiders Rapid Vienna are out to prove them wrong.

"We will win the Cup Winners Cup," PSG coach Luis Fernandez said. "The players have pride and I'm sure they will give it all they have."

But Rapid coach Ernst Dokupil said his team had nothing to fear from the French club and were happy to go into the match as underdogs.

Paris St Germain is in an altogether different soccer world with much better resources than we have but the team with the greater financial backing doesn't always have to win," he said. "We've rested our minds and bodies and it's lifted our spirits and increased our fighting strength."

Both teams are at full strength for the first European decider in the Heysel stadium since 1985 when the tragic crowd disturbances before the Champions Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool led to the deaths of 39 people.

PSG are determined to make 1996 their year after flopping in UEFA Cup, Cup Winners Cup and Champions Cup semi-finals in the last three seasons. Success would make them only the second French team to win a European trophy after Marseille's 1993 Champions' Cup triumph.

Their hopes of a French title have all but vanished after two recent successive home defeats, making a win in Brussels tonight all the more crucial.

PSG have raised expectations by beating Celtic, Parma and Deportivo Coruna en route to the final and club president Michel Denisot, whose Canal Plus television station has spent a fortune on star names for the team, has told his players they must beat Rapid.

The players have refused to talk to the media for a week and Fernandez has already said he will not coach the team next season because the pressure to succeed is too great.

Rapid. by contrast, have opted for a relaxed approach to their second Cup Winners Cup final. They were beaten 3-1 by Everton in their first final in 1,985. The Austrians boosted their profile with a 4-1 aggregate rout of Feyenoord in the semi-final stage.

Fernandez is likely to drop Panamanian striker Julio Cesar Dely Valdes, who was scoring freely in the autumn but has netted just one goal this year, and opt for Patrice Loko and Brazil's Rai up front.

Rapid Vienna will rely heavily on the prowess of German striker Carsten Jancker and on their goalkeeper and captain Michael Konsel.