Run To The Final & Triumph Over Dynamo Moscow!
A European Cup Winners' Cup run that confused a referee, irritated a battered and bruised German icon and was helped by a handful of dodgy Russian photos, all culminated in Barcelona and a date with Dynamo Moscow in the final. It was a 3rd attempt for the Glasgow club-- they had lost the previous 2 European finals in 1961 and 1967.
At the time, things were not going at all well, the Bears' trophy cabinet was bare for its longest stretch since 1903-1911. Coinciding more or less with the departure of Jim Baxter, Rangers lacked a league title in seven years-- the run would extend till 1975-- and the Cup had actually avoided them since 1966.
Scot Symon, the Rangers manager, was not able to rouse his players, and with pressure exacerbated by Celtic's momentum, he left the club in 1967. His replacement was the assistant he had selected simply 5 weeks formerly, David White-- pronounced "Chwite"-- who lasted just two years, leaving as the only Rangers manager not to win a prize.
It was Willie Waddell who replaced White, and immediately, things reformed. His reverence for the club made him its perfect manager. Though he would endure no criticism from beyond anything connected to it, this did not blind him to its faults, rather stirred him to set them right. He would peer over glasses and from a raised desk to chastise his players, and it was he who oversaw the advancement of Ibrox into one of the world's finest football premises. In October 1970 Rangers eventually won something, beating Celtic to the League Cup thanks to a goal from 16-year-old Derek Johnstone, who ended up being the youngest scorer in a British final. However, they ended up the season in fourth place, 16 points shy of taking the leading spot, and continued in a likewise miserable vein at the start of the next.
Rangers kept their finest performances for Europe in 1971-72. They lost four of their first five league games and 11 in total completing behind Celtic and Aberdeen. In the middle of it all, the Cup Winners' Cup campaign began-- a competition Rangers were in only by default. Celtic had beaten them in the Scottish Cup final replay in 1971.
Their continental project began well. In the away leg against Rennes, the group used a harrying design, strikers Willie Johnston and Colin Stein pressurising protectors in belongings, while Willie Mathieson, Jardine and Alex MacDonald man-marked the wingers and midfield schemer respectively. The game ended up 1-1.
In the 2nd round, Rangers were combined with Sporting Lisbon, the competition favourites. The Scots won the house leg 3-2 then lost away by the same margin in normal time. Both sides scored again in extra time to make it 6-6 on aggregate. Dutch referee Laurens Van Ravens then requested a penalty shoot-out, however, he actually should not have.
As the players prepared themselves, excited residents overflowed the barriers and onto the apron of the pitch, after which Rangers folded. Three of their first four kickers missed out on-- Davie Smith twice after he was brought back to be retaken-- while Sporting scored their first 4. Rangers were out of the competition.
Except that Rangers weren't out of the tournament; in a quite splendid display of dunderheadedness, Laurens van Ravens, the Dutch referee had stopped working to note that even away goals scored in extra-time counted double.
Equipped with his pal's handbook, Waddell went searching for the pertinent UEFA official to indicate the relevant point, and the result was quickly reversed. Not rapidly enough for the morning papers, the Times reporting that Rangers had lost "on penalty goals", however, it would be they, not Sporting, who faced Torino in the quarter-finals.
Rangers adjusted Torino's catenaccio system into what nobody called McCatenaccio, Johnstone signing up with Colin Jackson at centre-back with Smith deployed as the door bolt behind them. And it was further strengthened with a goal, Mathieson breaking down the right and crossing for Johnston to score.
The Gers were merely not able to escape their half, however, they yielded only once as Torinese tempers were mislaid. And after that, at Ibrox, MacDonald's goal 54 seconds into the second half sufficed to see them through. This established a semi against a Bayern Munich side sporting Franz 'The Kaiser' Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner, Gerd Muller and Uli Hoeness.
The benefit for this accomplishment was more of a "benefit": a semi-final against Bayern Munich, or "Bay-urn", as they were known. Because 1967, Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller had turned into global superstars, with Paul Breitner, Hans-Georg Schwartzenbeck and Uli Hoeness showing up given that; their group had directly removed Rangers from the previous season's Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
At the end of 71-72, they would win the very first of three consecutive league titles, precipitating the first of three successive European Cups, throughout which period their principal players would lead Germany to a European Championship and a World Cup. Or, put another method, they were not merely among the best sides around at the time, nor merely among Bayern's best sides, but one of the very best sides in history.
The very first leg was at Munich's Grünwalder Stadion, likewise the home of 1860. Rangers might barely clear their box, however, escaped from the first half with simply a one-goal deficit, Breitner putting Bayern ahead at its midway point. And then, three minutes after the break, Stein drove low across the package, for Rainer Zobel to deflect house the equaliser.
Nothing could have prepared them for Ibrox in the return leg, where 80,000 bams made the loudest sound in its history, while over at Parkhead, where Celtic satisfied Internazionale, the same number did the same thing at the very same time. This is to say that 160,000 individuals, roughly 18% of Glasgow's total population at the time, invested that night engaged in a footballing activity.
It would have been more unforgettable had both teams went through to the finals, Celtic in the Champions Cup and Rangers in the Cup-winners' Cup, however, a missed penalty by Dixie Deans in the shoot-out after the additional time allowed the Italians to slip out of Parkhead and into the final. It was just five years earlier that the same groups had remained in European finals, Celtic beating Inter Milan in the Champions Cup and Rangers losing in the Cup-winners' Cup final to Bayern Munich.
The truths of the matches are basic enough. An efficiency regarded at the time by many as one of their finest in Europe, took the initiative in remarkable style when Sandy Jardine scored the opening goal inside a minute. That put his group en path to the final, especially with an away goal as back-up, and when Derek Parlane, making his European launching, scored a second midway through the half, there was no chance back for the Germans.
Rangers, on the other hand, were desperate to inform everyone exactly how good they were, and as such, desperately required that very first European trophy. Renown was inadequate, reckoned Greig-- they needed to establish themselves as a serious football club, and now had more opportunity to do that, at the same time as repaying their supporters for hanging in there during dark times.
In the final, they would face Dinamo Moscow.
Cup Winners Cup Final at Nou Camp
Moscow Dynamo was the first Russian team to reach a European final, Dinamo had drawn 2-2 with Rangers when checking out the UK in 1945-- however this time, they would fulfil at Barcelona's Camp Nou. Barcelona itself had seen an invasion of Rangers fans: 110 charter flights, 203 buses and a lot more taking a trip independently brought the Rangers to support to around 16,000. On the other hand, Moscow Dynamo was backed by around 400 fans.Dynamo were not inclined to make things easy; when Wallace travelled over to scout them, together with more basic trouble, he was required to pay in. The players, on the other hand, were promised by the state the title of Master of Sport if they won, and before departure, were encouraged by a succession of nakachkas-- speeches on communist ideology. In Spain, there were issues as to how these beliefs might manifest, the nation still managed by Franco's fascist regime.
On 23 minutes, Smith dispatched a long ball, and all of a sudden Stein was in, spanking into the roof of the net with his laces. And, 5 minutes before half-time, things got even better, Dynamo yielding a free-kick out on the right, deep inside their half. Justice at the imagined infraction was served from the free kick; though it was cleared, Smith moved forward, clipped in a high ball, and Johnston headed home.
Four minutes into the 2nd half, a hump forwards was missed by Stein and two defenders. Unexpectedly, Johnston was in once again, and similarly suddenly, had scored again; 3-0!
The stress in the stadium heightened when the Russians began a wonderful fightback. Eschtrekov, who had only been on the pitch for 2 minutes, pulled one back to offer the Muscovites hope. As victory ended up being tantalising close, Smith had to boot the ball off the line and after that Jardine almost scored an own goal. Rangers were being put through the wringer and their thrilled fans might barely handle it! With three minutes to go Dynamo scored their second, through Mahovikov, and the tension became unbearable for the Scots.
With a minute remaining, thousands of fans invaded the pitch thinking the match was over. Again the playing area needed to be cleared prior to play could be resumed. Ultimately, the final whistle sounded and Rangers' European dream had become a reality.
Pleased Rangers fans worked on to the pitch once again, and there started a horrible fight between baton-wielding Spanish cops, who up until that point had actually appeared fairly undisturbed by the fans' antics, and Rangers fans.
The triumphant Rangers group were deep in the Camp Nou, at the beginning unaware of what was taking place on the pitch. Captain John Greig was awarded the prize in a changing room instead of on the park.
Rangers would be unable to protect the prize after being banned from European competitors as a result of the clashes, but the days after the game offered a chance for the supporters to take in the historic moment at Ibrox.
Rangers would contest the very first European Super Cup with Ajax Amsterdam in 1973.