Four seasons of European football

cloodie said:
Surprisingly I haven't seen the Braga game mentioned where we came back from 2-0 down and taking a bit of a hiding to a 3-2 win. What a night that was.
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First game that came to mind for me.

It was probably my favourite European game until this season. Finishing the job in style by winning over there was superb as well.

Dortmund away and Leipzig at Ibrox this season though will likely not be topped for a long long time. Actually quite emotional typing that knowing we might not experience such recent highs again.
 
lwl said:
3-1 at Ibrox, versus Rapid Vienna with Alfredo scoring on the break via Candeias' backheel will live with me forever.

Watching that game had me hyperventilating and fist-pumping and going absolutely tonto for what seemed like the first time in years (most recent would have been the Warburton Scottish Cup semi versus the filth, but will explain why). Even though we'd progressed through all the qualifying rounds, and drawn away to Villareal no less weeks before, this was the moment I finally knew we were truly back where we belonged and bigger things were not far away.
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Exact same for me. That’s when I knew we were back.
 
Hagi v braga is a game that sticks with me and obviously Leipzig but I think that will be a game that everyone will remember for as long as they live.
 
drgriffen said:
Best run of form in my lifetime. I'm 50.

As someone who watched us get pumped by ok European teams, for so long, it has been an absolute pleasure to see us compete, and play an attractive style of football, against so many good teams.

Hopefully, this is how it will continue.
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Agree I'm 55 and can mind the odd great game and result in the 80's ,inter Milan, Kiev etc
But they were few and far between ,even during 9 in a row we were pretty poor and inconsistent mixed in with some great night's ,sturm graz ,psv and the like

This is the most consistent I've seen us ,hopefully many more to come
 
Gaz030191 said:
Just for context, we've played 64 games in those 4 seasons.

Celtic have played 68 in the 10 years since we had to drop down to division 3.

And they haven't won a post Xmas tie in that time.

It's remarkable where we've came from til now.
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That's a stat that shows their lack of ambition. They were too focused on the 10, then they ruined that.

The league was 100% their focus this season 21/22, Europe was a distraction. Not sure what their excuse will be season 22/23.
 
Teddy bear said:
Under Gerrard from his first Euro game we never once looked like a Scottish team playing Europe.
Untill this season, from malmo to sparta Prague I feared our wee golden period in Europe was over. And we were back to being a Scottish team in Europe.
We reached this final on merit.
17 goals we've scored in the knockout stages thus season.
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To put that into perspective, celtic haven’t scored 17 goals in knockout football in the last 18 years.
 
Chubster said:
These games should be fully appreciated when they happen and never be taken for granted. Some fantastic memories, let's look ahead to more!
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There’s also been something intangible about many of these Euro games~ emotional.
How many of us were greetin (with joy/pride) at various stages. How does that happen?? But it did. Don’t know how to explain it but it’s like nothing else… pure raw natural emotion.
 
cloodie said:
Surprisingly I haven't seen the Braga game mentioned where we came back from 2-0 down and taking a bit of a hiding to a 3-2 win. What a night that was.
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Phenomenal comeback and win but we were pretty poor for most of it. Despite having 2 or 3 really good chances we were ran ragged by Braga for 65 minutes.

McGregor had that save to stop it being 3-0 when Braga broke the length of the park in about 2.5 seconds, we scored just after, their players noticeably shat it and we had an extra half yard on them for the last 20 minutes.
 
cloodie said:
The best part for me has been our style of play throughout. I've never seen a Rangers team go at teams in Europe the way we have over the past few years. It's been a total joy to watch. There's no inferiority complex from us, we know we're good enough to beat them no matter how big a name they are.
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Exactly what I was about to post. Has been an incredible turnaround and just pipped at the post this year. We deserve to be where we are and how well we play in Europe has been a joy to watch. Yes VAR certainly helped but hindered us a few times also.

Overall, I don't care what anyone says, this goes down as a very successful season. We've punched well above our weight for past 4 years in Euro ties and I've no doubt we will again next season.

Bring them on!
 
Roofe's goal from the halfway line in a monsoon!
Rapid Vienna, Legia Warsaw, Porto, Braga, Leipzig, Feyenoord at Ibrox. Wow. You could go on and on. Thank you Mr Gerrard for getting us back where we belong, and taking games to the opposition. Gio has us likewise.
Hopefully good times ahead. Euro games are just fantastic, compared to our league drudgery, of playing same teams of hammer throwers 3/4/5 times a season, on tottie fields and plastic pitches with poet refs offering zero protection.
 
Let's not forget us ragdolling Midtyland 7-3 in the qualifiers either a couple of seasons ago.

Liverpool's aggregate score against them in the CL group stages a year later was 3-1 and they beat the scum 3-2 in the CL qualifiers this season.

It shows how great our results and performances have been that results like this are barely mentioned in our highlights when in previous years we'd probably have been raving about it.
 
If can consolidate and continue these amazing runs in Europe, we can reach another European Final. The more we become normalised to appearing in the latter stages, the less daunting playing in Europe will appear. We belong on that stage.
 
the disallowed goal in Moscow should have been one of our best ever euro goals, and set us up for a victory.

was an absolutely amazing trip.

Dortmund away in the press box (thanks Mark) was sheer bliss, with McIlroy telling me to pipe down when Lunny scored ;) aye, good luck with that Robert.
 
I was at the Rangers v Bayer game 2-0 1972 and carnage prevailed, ended up in the ambulance room after getting hurtled from the top of the Derry shed to the bottom. Atmosphere was amazing but have to admit, RBL game was prob one of the most energy sapping games I've ever been to. European nights with Rangers are of the grid
 
Boabinho said:
£37m over four seasons according to transfermarket
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Kent our biggest fee yet. Probably won't get more than that.

Understand where the club's been but as we all know, had we speculated to accumulate we could have been in the Champions League last season, instead we signed the likes of Bacuna.
 
I fly with BA and KLM and you can log into the app and it gives you a run down of your flights.

E.g you’ve flown around the world 5 times, one trip to the moon etc

It would be amazing if Rangers could do similliar
Show all the FT scores, scorer of each goals, Alfie’s 30th goal in Europe, Tavs 10th assist etc

Basically a run down of games and fun facts.
 
lwl said:
3-1 at Ibrox, versus Rapid Vienna with Alfredo scoring on the break via Candeias' backheel will live with me forever.

Watching that game had me hyperventilating and fist-pumping and going absolutely tonto for what seemed like the first time in years (most recent would have been the Warburton Scottish Cup semi versus the filth, but will explain why). Even though we'd progressed through all the qualifying rounds, and drawn away to Villareal no less weeks before, this was the moment I finally knew we were truly back where we belonged and bigger things were not far away.
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There was a great wee film made by BT Sport for that night, and it was one of our own on FF ( Rob ? ) who was on it, and he took them through a short recent history of our club & journey.

It was very emotional.
 
It’s been an emotional rollercoaster and Thursday nights over the past 4years have been epic!!! Looking back, a lot of those games in 18’, 19 and 20’ I was totally drunk & wasted-ended up getting some help and now 2years in sobriety. I stood proudly in Seville this time last week and looked directly at the Frankfurt Grim Reaper and thought bring it all on. We as a support are made of such stronger stuff and it’s because of the trials we have overcome throughout the recent European games. There’s so much more to come.
 
European runs can be a "selling" feature to potential signings, hopefully. Players may look aynthe league we play in and have second thoughts, but these European runs may just tip any apprehension the other way. Joining the EL finalists, and that it's Rangers might be very persuasive for many players.
 
After trekking up to East Stirling’s ground at Stenhousemuir, the journey to Europe has been nothing short of a miracle, mainly thanks to SG, followed by GVB. Long may it continue.
 
The record of getting to the knockout rounds 3 seasons in a row from the qualifiers was outstanding.

Had only ever brought my boy up for Saturday league games, but decided we come up for the Legia game at Ibrox.
Well, the place is a different animal on a European night, and the Legia fans played their part in it, he was like 'WTF is going on?' when they set off the smoke bombs, and were suddenly half naked going mental, that got our fans even more riled up, and the atmosphere for the last few minutes was awesome, then Morelos got the winner, game over.

Watched the draw for the group stage next day, and decided we would go, unfortunately he couldn't take time off school, so it was up and down again the same night for the group stage games, he loved the lot.
Braga at home winning 3-2 after being 2 down was just sensational, we were buzzing in the hotel for hours after that ( half term so had the luxury of staying over! )

One of my biggest regrets is not getting tickets for me and him for the Leipzig game, I knew it had the potential to be something special, and it was, just wish we were there to experience it together.

Point of the long post is that, I fully expect us to experience more nights like Dortmund, Legia, Braga, Leipzig, as we are now playing and performing like a team of our stature should be.

I'm really proud of how the team have made our name something in Europe again.
 
TheSpaceCowboy said:
The record of getting to the knockout rounds 3 seasons in a row from the qualifiers was outstanding.

Had only ever brought my boy up for Saturday league games, but decided we come up for the Legia game at Ibrox.
Well, the place is a different animal on a European night, and the Legia fans played their part in it, he was like 'WTF is going on?' when they set off the smoke bombs, and were suddenly half naked going mental, that got our fans even more riled up, and the atmosphere for the last few minutes was awesome, then Morelos got the winner, game over.

Watched the draw for the group stage next day, and decided we would go, unfortunately he couldn't take time off school, so it was up and down again the same night for the group stage games, he loved the lot.
Braga at home winning 3-2 after being 2 down was just sensational, we were buzzing in the hotel for hours after that ( half term so had the luxury of staying over! )

One of my biggest regrets is not getting tickets for me and him for the Leipzig game, I knew it had the potential to be something special, and it was, just wish we were there to experience it together.

Point of the long post is that, I fully expect us to experience more nights like Dortmund, Legia, Braga, Leipzig, as we are now playing and performing like a team of our stature should be.

I'm really proud of how the team have made our name something in Europe again.
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Great post TSC.

Love the stories of bears introducing their kids to the club & the young ones getting the buzz. I’ve been through both sides of it.
 
There’s something special about European competition. From the escape of domestic mundane games, better football, open games, quality opposition. Always had a real affinity to it myself.

I’m not as old as many here but even pre-2012 I’ve seen some absolute euro horrors over the years. Auxerre, Zizkov, Panathinaikos in the early/mid 00s - genuinely horrendous stuff. In the last 4 years its hard to pick out many of the same (if any).

Then there’s Ibrox on the Euro nights. I still rememember Maribor a few seasons back. Nowhere near your Dortmund’s/Leipzig’s of this year but it still got into the heads of both sets of players - you could see it on the pitch. A great feeling, felt like we were having a impact on opponents even back then.

I wasn’t at Leipzig unfortunately but most of the boys I’ve gone to the games with were down south visiting me for that one. We took it in at the local RSC. What a special night and atmosphere that was - and we’ve had a few recently. It was Florence but this time it was on our patch. Hard to beat that.

Lots of wee instances and moments to pick out. Dortmund away for the wtf/dreamland moment and a shoutout to Kemar Roofe for the incredible in absolutely torrential Liege. Outstanding goal.

It feels good to be back and genuine contenders in this arena.
 
Posted a few times that it’s not even the big results that I find the best (obviously they are the best nights) but what I mean is they are the ones where we set the standard. Routine wins v Brondby, Slavia, Lech, Rapid Vienna in the groups is what we struggled with previously. The fact we just turn up and win in Europe is a massive step forward.
 
The point for me is the number of games.

People can downplay the standard of Scottish football (fans of English clubs mainly), but any player signing for us is pretty much guaranteed half as many European games too.

Playing 19 games at Ibrox domestically, as well as Old Firm games, trips to Edinburgh etc, and a minimum of 15 European games too - it’s not that unappealing. Especially if you’re comparing it to a bottom half EPL dog fight or a season against Rotherham, Preston, Luton, Blackpool and Wigan.
 
Battlefield Bear said:
The Leipzig game was just incredible. I forced my Dad to go as he's 78 this year, and doesn't walk as well as he used to. He normally sits with his older brother, believe it or not, and both of them had decided to give midweek games up.

However, after a chat with my old man it was decided that I'd take him and upgrade my Uncle's ticket so we could sit together. We parked as close to the ground as we could and walked along Shieldhall Rd to the Louden. Not a massive distance, but enough for my Dad. Nowhere to sit in the Louden, but we were loving the pre-match buzz so stuck it out for a few rounds. Walk back to the ground for a seat and a rest before the madness!

As the place was rocking, it meant that everyone was standing, and the auld yin's legs are suffering going into the second half. At least, until big John rammed the ball home! So glad to have been able to share that moment with him, even though I dare say we might not have anything like it again together.

The walk back to the car was a stage too far, and we hobbled and limped as best we could. Made my night when he said it was worth the pain for the best night he's ever had at Ibrox, and he's been going for 65 years!

Talk about priceless.
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Outstanding pal. Love that.
 
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