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Bucharest Battles

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By Alistair Aird

Steaua Bucharest won the European Champions Cup in 1986, famously defeating a Barcelona side managed by Terry Venebales on penalty kicks in Seville. Their moustachioed goalkeeper, Helmuth Duckadam, was the hero, saving all four of the penalties taken by the Catalan giants. But a bitter court wrangle in 2014 robbed a club founded back in 1947 of their name, colours and crest and since 2017, they have operated as Fotbal Club FCSB. In their previous guise, the club has faced Rangers on six occasions in European competition, and there was an infamous friendly in 1995 today that featured a mimicked musical interlude from the irrepressible Paul Gascoigne. This article will reference each of the European ties played but will focus on the match at Ibrox in March 1988 as the two sides battled it out for a place in the last four of the European Champions Cup.

Rangers first faced Steaua Bucharest in European competition in season 1969/70. The Light Blues, managed by David White, were competing in the European Cup Winners’ Cup, earning their place in the competition despite being battered 4-0 by Celtic in the previous season’s Scottish Cup Final. With Jock Stein’s side qualifying for the European Cup as champions, Scotland’s slot in the Cup Winners’ Cup went to Rangers.

White took his squad to Largs to prepare for the match, although Kai Johansen, who had scored the decisive goal in the 1966 Scottish Cup Final, initially didn’t travel as he had damaged his knee in the 2-1 defeat against Ayr United at Somerset Park the previous weekend. But after responding well to treatment, the Dane joined his team mates on the Ayrshire coast and was listed at right-back when the teams were announced ahead of the game. Sandy Jardine was also included at inside right having shaken off a groin injury.

Rangers didn’t play well in an attacking sense for most of the first half, but an injury to Orjan Persson forced a tactical change that reaped an immediate reward. Willie Johnston, who had started the game at inside-left, took over the berth on the left wing vacated by Persson, and almost immediately ‘Bud’ opened the scoring, his shot squirming under the Steaua goalkeeper, Vasile Suciu. And before the interval, Johnston was on the mark again, capitalising on hesitancy from the Steaua right-back, Gheorghe Christache, before thumping a shot into the net.

There was no further scoring in the second half – the Steaua inside-right Gheorghe Tataru came closest to scoring when he struck the underside of Gerry Neef’s crossbar – and there would be no goals in the return leg either. In the August 23 stadium, a fine display by Gerry Neef and a magnificent performance by John Greig were the main reasons why White’s side kept their Romanian opponents at bay.

Alas, Rangers would exit the competition in the next round. The Polish side Gornik Zabrze, inspired by Wlodzomeriz Lubanski, won 6-2 on aggregate, with the 3-1 defeat at Ibrox effectively costing White his job.

Ironically, when Rangers exacted revenge on Gornik some 18 years later – winning 4-2 on aggregate in the second round of the European Cup in season 1987/88 – their opponents in the next round would be Steaua Bucharest.

Joining Rangers and their Romanian opponents in the last eight of the continent’s premier competition were Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Bordeaux, PSV Eindhoven, Benfica and Anderlecht. Many felt that Graeme Souness’ side were therefore well-placed to have a crack at winning the tournament. Unfortunately, a series of unfortunate events would rob them of that opportunity.

The first leg of the tie was played in Bucharest on 2 March 1988, and Rangers went into the match minus their defensive lynchpin and captain, Terry Butcher. Butcher had broken his leg in a midweek league match against Aberdeen back in November and the subsequent changes saw Richard Gough, signed in October from Tottenham Hotspur, join Graham Roberts at the heart of the defence with young Scott Nisbet stepping in at right back.

Attacking options were limited too. Robert Fleck, who had struck up a prolific partnership with Ally McCoist in the title-winning season of 1986/87, had joined Norwich City in December, while Mark Falco, a summer of 1987 signing from Watford, also moved south, joining Queen Park Rangers. That left Ally McCoist as the only senior striker at the club, and he faced a race against time to be fit too.

After starting the last 131 competitive matches for Rangers, McCoist had picked up a knee injury that required surgery. This took place seven days before the first leg, and the day before the match, the Evening Times declared that McCoist, who had missed a league win over St Mirren, a draw against Dundee United and the elimination from the Scottish Cup at the hands of Dunfermline Athletic, would be absent. He would be joined on the sidelines by John Brown, Mark Walters, Jan Bartram, and Ian Ferguson who were ineligible having been signed after the European deadline.

But remarkably, McCoist was declared fit, and he took his place in the forward line where he would be supported by the darting runs of Ian Durrant. Souness picked himself to play in midfield too.

Rangers fell behind after only two minutes – Victor Piturca scored after the visitors failed to clear the ball after a corner kick – and only a couple of splendid saves from Chris Woods prevented the Romanians scoring again before half time. But the Rangers goalkeeper was helpless 21 minutes after the restart when a shot from Stefan Iovan took a wicked deflection off a defensive wall that had been formed after Gough had conceded a free-kick.

But with wins over Dynamo Kiev and Gornik already chalked up at Ibrox earlier in the season, there was no reason to think that Rangers couldn’t overcome the two-goal deficit when the sides crossed swords again a fortnight later.

Rangers went into the game off the back of successive league wins over Dunfermline and Motherwell. The 1-0 win over the Fir Park side – the writer’s first-ever game at Ibrox – featured just one shot on target from the home team, the goal scored by Ian Durrant. The narrow win meant Rangers sat second in the title race, four points adrift of Celtic who also had a game in hand.

The Rangers starting XI showed one change from the first leg. Jimmy Nicholl, who had played in midfield in Bucharest, was replaced by Derek Ferguson. But after appearing to go for the jugular from the start, the home side were caught by a sucker punch after only three minutes.

Tudorel Stoica sent forward a 40-yard pass split the Rangers defence, and Marius Lacatus latched on to it and lobbed the ball over the advancing Woods. With away goals counting double, Rangers needed to find four goals to progress. And they should have been handed a further handicap moments after the concession of the goal when Souness went in high on Iosif Rotariu. If you watch the footage of the tackle on YouTube, you’ll wince. The Rangers player-manager caught his opponent on the inside of his thigh and should have been ordered off. Instead, the Swiss referee brandished a yellow card.

Rangers looked to make the most of the reprieve and they restored parity on the night after 15 minutes. Davie Cooper’s corner was headed across goal by Graham Roberts and Richard Gough nodded the ball into the empty net. And after half an hour, Rangers had eaten halfway into their four-goal target.

Souness found Durrant inside the box with an exquisite pass and the Rangers midfielder was tugged back by Miodrag Belodedici. It was a penalty kick of the stonewall variety. McCoist was cool and clinical from 12 yards, dispatching the ball into the left-hand corner of the net. Game on!

The second half started with a shot from Souness that whistled over the bar before Durrant fired a left foot shot across goal and wide of the far post. Ray Wilkins also let fly from distance only to see his shot saved by Gheorghe Liliac, the substitute goalkeeper who had been introduced after Dumitru Stangaciu had been injured in a collision with the dynamic Durrant.

And then the chance came. Given the form he was in, you would have bet your mortgage on McCoist hitting the target when he was teed up by a Wilkins backheel some 16 yards from goal, but Ally slashed a right foot shot into the Copland Road end. Had he scored, then a grandstand finish may well have been forthcoming. But it wasn’t to be; Rangers were out.

The two sides met again in the group stages of the Champions League in 1995. Bracketed in a ‘Group of Death’ with Borussia Dortmund and Juventus, the game in Bucharest was settled in the home side’s favour by a late goal from Daniel Prodan, while the match at Ibrox – a 1-1 draw – will forever be remembered for a magnificent solo goal by the mercurial Gascoigne.

Rangers therefore go into Thursday’s match undefeated at Ibrox against FCSB in their former guise. Whether that run is extended against the new incarnation is up for debate given the current state of affairs, though. Sunday’s dire defeat at Rugby Park has darkened what were already leaden skies, and one would suggest that even a win over our Romanian opponents would do little to lift the gloom.

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