Even when we considered ourselves a good team, especially during the second Walter dominance years, it used to frustrate me to no end that we treated European matches in the manner that we did. Sure, a lot of this was the Champion's League, but from a club perspective we appeared to be terrified of everyone because they had faster players, which trickled down to the fans too.
We used to look at all the other European teams with envy and wonder why we had to play the way we did. Why couldn't we just assemble a good team, go out on a level playing ground, and beat them fair and square the same way we did to Hearts, or to Killie or whoever.
Smaller continental teams - your Malmos and your Trabzonspors - would come to Ibrox and we'd all talk about how hard they pressed you, how they passed the ball nicely, but were also physical enough to cause difficulty there too. Meanwhile, there we were, every man behind the ball, like watching a souped up version of modern day Aberdeen. It was successful at its best, and demoralising at its worst. We also got eliminated from competitions by having less than five shots on target.
For the first time in decades, I genuinely feel proud of our boys on that pitch in Europe. They go out with no fucking fear, they play fast and aggressive and hard, and they make us look like a proper football team playing against other football teams who we used to be scared of. In the past, Porto's ability and pace would have made us too cautious to even play two fast wingers in our lineup. Now, the bastards fear our striker.
No Surrender Steven Gerrard.