Rangers in European finals: How they have fared
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Looking back at Rangers in European finals
Rangers take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League final in Seville on Wednesday night.
The Ibrox club have featured in four previous continental showpiece encounters and here we take a look at how Rangers in European finals has ended in each of those matches.
Fiorentina 4 Rangers 1 (Cup Winners’ Cup, 1961)
After losing to Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup semi-finals, Rangers only had another 12 months to wait before they made their first European final.
The Cup Winners’ Cup was a two-legged affair back then but Scot Symon’s men were up against it after Luigi Milan struck a double for Fiorentina in the first game at Ibrox, either side of Eric Caldow’s missed penalty.
Milan then put the Italians further ahead when he netted 13 minutes into the second leg. Alex Scott gave Rangers a glimmer of hope when he pulled one back on the hour, but Kurt Hamrin sealed a comprehensive aggregate victory for the men from Florence.
📸 PIC OF THE DAY: #RangersFC faced @acffiorentina in the 1961 Cup Winners' Cup Final first-leg on this day in 1961 at Ibrox. pic.twitter.com/oPhhMwmny9
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) May 17, 2020
Bayern Munich 1 Rangers 0 (Cup Winners’ Cup, 1967)
Just a week after city rivals Celtic became European champions, Rangers had a chance to make it a Glasgow double when they faced Bayern Munich in Nuremberg in the Cup Winners’ Cup.
The final finished 0-0 over 90 minutes after Roger Hynd – a centre-half playing up front – had a goal disallowed for Symon’s team.
Franz Roth scored the decisive goal 19 minutes into extra time to land Bayern their first European trophy.
Rangers 3 Dynamo Moscow 2 (Cup Winners’ Cup, 1972)
Rangers defeated Bayern in the semi-finals five years later to set up a showdown with Dynamo Moscow at Barcelona’s Nou Camp.
Willie Waddell’s side were three up within 50 minutes after a goal from Colin Stein and a double from Willie Johnston. The Russians hit back with two goals in the last half hour but were unable to deny Rangers their only major European triumph to date.
The Rangers support celebrated by invading the pitch, leading to clashes with Spanish police, with Dynamo demanding a replay because it took place before the final whistle.
No replay was ever scheduled and Rangers kept the trophy that John Greig received in a room inside the stadium, but they served a one-year European ban.
Greig later said: “One of the officials handed the trophy to me with hardly a word and then we were back on our way to the dressing room. It was one of the greatest nights of my career but in the end it was a real slap in the face for Rangers.”
Zenit St Petersburg 2 Rangers 0 (UEFA Cup, 2008)
Rangers battled their way to the UEFA Cup final at the City of Manchester Stadium after dropping down from the Champions League.
Walter Smith’s resilient side only scored five goals in eight knockout matches but it was enough to see off Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina.
The Ibrox men had faced a testing fixture list towards the business end of the campaign and the final proved a bridge too far despite holding out for 72 minutes against a team managed by former Ibrox boss Dick Advocaat, with Igor Denisov putting Zenit ahead before Konstantin Zyryanov wrapped things up in stoppage time.
The game was overshadowed by violence and vandalism in the city centre, where more than 200,000 Gers fans had gathered.
