One year ago, everything came down to this. As the clock hit 8, Ibrox’s most memorable
modern European night was 😆 unfolding. RB Leipzig stood in the way of Rangers reaching a
major European final. The inevitable pull of history was 😆 about to firmly take hold and
not let go.
From the depths of 2012, a decade on Rangers came to within 😆 penalty kicks
of recording one of the great modern sporting achievements. Nine years and a day on
from lifting the 😆 Third Division title. Propelled by Ibrox and totally infected with
belief the squad caught onto magic that carried them so 😆 very close to immortality.
No
game on the run demonstrated that quite like Rangers 3-1 Leipzig.
The week prior in
Germany, only 😆 a late Angelino strike eventually broke down Rangers’ stubborn resolve
during the semi-final first leg. Tactical flexibility defined the side’s 😆 ability to
adapt and overcome opponent after opponent and knowing the full weight of Ibrox was
ready to play its 😆 part in seven days, that night in Saxony was all about keeping the
tie alive. To ensure the stadium had 😆 grounds to be expectant the following
Thursday.
Heart and Hand’s David Edgar was in the press room that night, quietly
brimming 😆 with confidence despite defeat.
“Ryan Jack came in with Giovanni van
Bronckhorst and I just remember Jack’s total certainty that they’d 😆 do the job. It
wasn’t cocky, it was just a certainty that they were going to turn it around. I
😆 remember speaking to one of their officials and he said ‘How are you feeling’. I said,
‘We will do it 😆 next week, you needed more than that tonight’.
“He was dubious but I
said ‘You don’t know what you’re walking into’. 😆 He replied, ‘We’ve played at grounds
like the Signal Iduna and Allianz Arena, and I just replied ‘You don’t know, 😆 it doesn’t
matter’."
“We’ve done it before, we’re excited to try and do it again,” was Jack’s
diplomatic public prediction.
At this 😆 juncture in the European run, defying
expectations had almost become expected. From that win in Dortmund to completing the
job 😆 and navigating two more rounds with emphatic home wins over Braga and Red Star
Belgrade, no side had yet been 😆 able to withstand the force faced in Govan.
Leipzig,
like many gone before, were another outfit that fancied itself to be 😆 the group capable
of defying the trend. The squad, stadium and fans thought differently.
Two days before
the home Leipzig tie, 😆 Jimmy Bell passed away. The legendary kitman, who’d worked at the
club for over 30 years, became a stalwart despite 😆 never pulling on a blue
jersey.
Described by Michael Beale as a “custodian of the club”, his popularity and
sheer importance 😆 within the building was reflected by the reaction from all connected
to Rangers.
“Yesterday wasn’t about keeping spirits high, we were 😆 all very shocked at
the news. It was a hard day for all of us,” Van Bronckhorst said speaking about 😆 Bell in
his pre-match press conference, at a time when the strength of his leadership was so
evident.
“Everyone was really 😆 down as you can imagine. Yesterday we didn’t do a lot, we
were all at the training ground but of 😆 course, the atmosphere was very down and still
in shock. We didn’t have the feeling that we had to keep 😆 our spirits high
yesterday.
“We talked about him, shared stories of him. Today we look ahead to Leipzig
tomorrow. It was 😆 a really big game already but we are very determined to go out and
give everything we can to make 😆 everyone proud, especially Jimmy.”
“The character of my
players is the best I’ve seen in any teams I’ve coached.”
The group and 😆 all associated
with the club were rocked by the news, only months on from the loss of Walter Smith.
And 😆 it left them all the more determined to do their old friend proud.
Calvin Bassey
was one of many who defined 😆 the Road to Seville. Evolving from a player who looked lost
in the group stage at centre-back to dominating the 😆 position each round. It was an
uncharted rise for the youngster signed on a cross-border fee the season prior. A 😆 club
record sale to Ajax would follow that summer.
Like everyone else in the squad, the
death of Jimmy was so 😆 difficult to deal with. Before, during and after the 90
minutes.
READ MORE: Jimmy Bell remembered: The Rangers kitman who became 😆 Ibrox icon
“It
was hard. It was so emotional. Honestly, it was such an emotional experience and it was
for him. 😆 With him not being there was so surreal,” Bassey tells the Rangers Review,
reflecting on the game a year on.
“I 😆 remember walking into the changing room and it
just didn’t feel right. Normally you’d see Jimmy because he’d always be 😆 there when you
walked in and you’d give him a little hug and have a bit of banter but he 😆 just wasn’t
there and it just felt weird but I focused in on Jimmy and I was like, ‘Do you 😆 know
what, everything I’m doing is for you’.
“He was looking down on us 100 per cent. I felt
like he 😆 was watching over us and pushing us through. They had one of his favourite
quotes stuck up on the wall 😆 and I remember Gio saying, ‘This is for Jimmy’.
READ MORE:
Rangers' Borussia Dortmund demolition: The inside story
“All of us felt 😆 energy as soon
as he said that and we were just like, ‘We have to win this’. But we knew 😆 deep down in
our hearts, no matter what happened, if we had lost the game Jimmy would’ve been proud
of 😆 us. All he ever wanted was for us to go out and give 100 per cent. To be able to 😆 get
the win and go to Seville was unbelievable.
“It was such an emotional night but it was
mixed emotions. You 😆 were so happy to be going to Seville but at the same time it was
like our best mate wasn’t 😆 there to experience it.”
Striding out to warm up in a stadium
spilling over with energy, Connor Goldson loudly proclaimed, “I 😆 don’t care who they
are, what their name is, what they’re worth. They haven’t got a team like us. Come 😆 on,
no respect. Let’s go.”
Leipzig’s squad was stacked with stars. One of the great young
defenders in world football Josko 😆 Gvardiol, seemingly Bayern Munich-bound Konrad
Laimer, Christopher Nkunku and Dani Olmo to name but a few. Keeping that talent quiet
😆 while clawing back a lead was going to require monstrous effort and resolve.
Walking
out to the Europa League theme tune 😆 and deafening noise, a Tifo display adorned the
Broomloan Road stand with a stunning Barcelona 1972-inspired display. The words at 😆 the
bottom of the stand read “The deeds of those who were before us are our
inspiration."
Having answered the call 😆 to ‘Make us Dream’ in previous rounds, the task
was now making history.
Lining up in a 5-4-1, without a recognised 😆 striker, Van
Bronckhorst once again had to dig into his tactical box of tricks to provide a platform
for victory.
Rangers 😆 played over the Leipzig press instead of trying to progress
through the thirds, attempting to isolate Ryan Kent on the 😆 left wing and free up James
Tavernier to attack the back post on the right.
With John Lundstram situated in defence
😆 alongside Connor Goldson and Calvin Bassey, Glen Kamara and Scott Wright played in
support of Joe Aribo up top, while 😆 Ryan Jack held court in the middle.
The hosts wanted
to trigger the press, attack directly and avoid the risk of 😆 turnovers in the centre,
negating Leipzig from advancing through quick transitions.
Without Alfredo Morelos to
hold the ball up, Kamara would 😆 rotate forwards at points to try and offer an out ball
and access the final third, using his back-to-goal qualities. 😆 It was a ploy that played
out perfectly for the first goal, scored, of course, by Tavernier stealing in at 😆 the
back post following excellent work by Kent on the left.
“I saw Raz in the same position
as the first 😆 leg and I thought I’m getting myself in here,” a jubilant Tavernier would
later tell BT Sport.
When Kent pulled the 😆 ball wide from a similar position the week
prior, the captain kicked the post in frustration for failing to gamble.
This 😆 time,
shot or cross, it didn’t matter. The scores were level.
Six minutes later it was two.
After Wright regained the 😆 ball high up the pitch Aribo punched possession into the
centre and there to find the far corner was Kamara. 😆 His celebration, removing a black
armband to commemorate Jimmy Bell and kissing it, captured the night’s feeling in its
totality. 😆 It will always be a lasting image.
“In a stadium emotionally charged it takes
the calmness of a stroke of Glen 😆 Kamara’s left boot to caress the ball into the corner
of the net,” BT Sport commentator Rory Hamilton roared into 😆 his mic as Kamara ran off
in celebration. “This place is made for special moments like that.”
That line is one 😆 of
many uttered by Hamilton now synonymous with last season’s run. Against Leipzig
especially, the coverage couldn’t have brought those 😆 watching on TV closer.
“Throughout
my career, I’ve always been told to get the big moments right,” Hamilton tells the
Rangers 😆 Review on the memorable moments his voice is forever associated with.
“If you
get them right, what you say the rest 😆 of the time, that won’t be written in history -
it’s the big moments you need to get right.
“I often 😆 get asked about how much you can
prepare. It’s more about preparing yourself mentally in the days leading up. Sometimes
😆 I take myself off to hike beforehand so you’ve got all day with nothing else to think
about other than 😆 the game.
“I play through scenarios in my head, ‘What if Roofe scores
in the 93rd minute and it takes Rangers 😆 to Seville’, ‘What happens if Tavernier scores
after 20 seconds’?
“It’s not to then get home and write that down in 😆 my notes. You
can’t prepare for life that way. But you can almost prepare mentally for when something
might happen, 😆 you’ve already thought of it in your mind and you think about how that
can impact what you might say. 😆 Not necessarily the words, just the emotions at that
stage.”
Ibrox was emotionally charged and Kamara’s composure in that moment held 😆 all
the more poignancy. There were more big moments on the way.
The stadium was now in
party mode. “We’re on 😆 our way to Seville, we’re on our way” only stopped to appease the
“Glasgow Rangers” chorus chanted at each turn 😆 in this run.
It should have been three
when Tavernier headed the ball into the path of Aribo, who could only 😆 scuff his shot
from close range. Leipzig, like so many sides before them, were spooked.
Guido Schafer,
a formal professional footballer 😆 and now the chief reporter with Leipziger
Volkszeitung, was in attendance that night covering the game. He’s followed Leipzig all
😆 over Europe and sampled Germany’s best atmospheres many times but none compared to what
he would encounter in Glasgow that 😆 night.
“I wrote an article two or three days before
the game saying, 'Some stadiums are able to win matches. The 😆 spectators at Ibrox are
game-changers.'
“Leipzig were confident but they all knew to expect a special
atmosphere. It was the best 😆 feeling I’ve ever had in a stadium, it was an eruption.
Like a hurricane. I think the atmosphere was so 😆 good because the fans' love is so big
for Rangers. They celebrate every foul and tackle.
“After, those associated with the
😆 club said it wasn’t our best night but Rangers on a good night, with this crowd, in
this stadium are 😆 not easy to beat. It wasn’t a sensation they’d experienced.”
Turning
to this writer after the second goal, another member of 😆 the German press pack said
simply “That was like an earthquake”.
Rangers historian and podcaster Martyn Ramsey was
also in the 😆 gantry, watching with wide eyes.
“A well-worn football cliche is equating
matches with boxing matches,” he says.
“That fits that bill quite 😆 well in this case.
The game was like that. There was the early rounds of scoping each other out. This
😆 wasn’t Braga where Rangers felt that could overpower the opposition. Right from the off
it was cagey. Then, when they 😆 got momentum, they capitalised on it.
“There was a
potential knockout blow when Nkunku equalised. That felt like it was coming. 😆 It was a
blow but I didn’t think ‘Oh well that’s it’ I didn’t feel or fear the worst. I 😆 just
felt there was one knockout blow in the game. You’re in the final round and thinking
who is going 😆 to go, who is going to land? When the jaw was exposed, Rangers hit
hardest.”
READ MORE: Rangers' Borussia Dortmund demolition: 😆 The inside story
Step
forward John Lundstram.
Like Bassey and Tavernier, Lundstram defined this run. It was
only fitting that the scriptwriter 😆 had him as the main player.
Nkunku’s equaliser from
Angelino’s cross was a reminder of the quality Van Bronckhorst’s men were 😆 battling to
keep quiet. It punctured the air and for a moment, Seville felt very far away again.
Had the 😆 dream been snatched away? Apparently not.
Following a deep free-kick, Kent
picked the ball up on the left wing and, embodying 😆 the incision he showed throughout
every European game that season, drove one way, chopped the other and stood the ball 😆 up
towards the back post. With the delivery threatening to drop in, Gvardiol headed it off
the line, straight into 😆 the path of our protagonist.
Lundstram strode onto the ball
before running to the fans with arms flailing, catching the eyes 😆 of a supporter whose
eyes were simply filled with disbelief.
"Look at Ibrox stadium, listen to the noise.
Rangers might just 😆 be on their way,"
Surviving the remaining 10 minutes plus stoppage
time, Hamilton could call time on the most famous of 😆 nights, with a monologue that was
fit for the occasion.
“Rangers are going to the Europa League Final. Get ready Seville,
😆 this time it’s the other half of Glasgow who are on their way. Pack your bags Rangers
fans you’re off 😆 to sunny Spain. Generations pass without experiencing a feeling like
this. But Rangers have done it. 1961, 67, 72, 2008, 😆 Rangers are going to their fifth
European final. 50 years on from Barcelona and Dynamo Moscow when Rangers beat German
😆 opponents 3-1 in the semi-final in Bayern Munich, Rangers are heading to Seville, back
to Spain, by the wings of 😆 Walter and with the spirit of Jimmy Bell in their hearts. To
honour those who forged the path and create 😆 new legends of their own, this has been the
most sensational European run. Rangers against all the odds from the 😆 lows of Malmo to
defeats in the opening two group games, this is a squad that when they are asked 😆 to
give their all, boy do they do it. And the hero of the hour is John Lundstram, but out
😆 there, in truth, heroes to a man. And Rangers and Scottish football will have a team in
a major European 😆 final from the bottom, from the depths of the Scottish leagues,
Rangers are back on the grand, grand stage. The 😆 full-time score at Ibrox Stadium -
Rangers 3 - RB Leipzig 1."
“The production wants to stay with the players on 😆 the pitch
and the emotion of the gantry for as long as possible,” Hamilton says reflecting on the
lines uttered 😆 as bewildered, exhausted players looked up to witness what they’d
achieved; absolutely unconfined noise, disbelief and joy of the highest 😆 order across
all four corners of the stadium. They were experiencing the history they’d just
created.
“There’s a different energy staying 😆 with the commentator on the gantry
compared to going back to the studio. It can be quite tricky, you might 😆 run out of
things to say but that was a night where you didn’t, you take the handbrake off and 😆 go
with it because it was such a big achievement.
“As I’ve touched on before, it was so
emotional in the 😆 stadium, so energised, the music started and you could just see
exactly what it meant to Rangers fans."
Cue ‘I’m Feeling 😆 It‘.
“When the whistle went,
the 20 minutes after it will live with me forever. It was an explosion of nothing 😆 but
pride and joy,” Edgar continues.
“A lot of stuff came home at one point. You remember
2012, the title, everyone 😆 was singing and bouncing. It was football in its purest,
rawest and most emotional form.
“Everyone as one in that moment, 😆 as a football fan
that’s what you’re always after being in sync with strangers and loved ones. It was the
😆 most special night that stadium has ever known,” Ramsay adds.
When Smith’s Rangers
reached the final in 2008 it was achieved 😆 in Florence. This was a moment for everyone
to share together at Ibrox.
Jumping up and down himself on the BT 😆 Sport podium to ‘John
Lundstram is the best on Earth’, Ally McCoist declared: “I’m absolutely buzzing. I
can’t tell you, 😆 look at the supporters. That’s as good an atmosphere as I’ve heard
anywhere. I know Gio wanted the supporters to 😆 play the 12th man, not only that they
were the 13th and the 14th, absolutely superb from start to finish.
“Nine 😆 years ago we
were playing East Stirling, in the third division. We’re in a European final.
"Walter
and Jimmy up there 😆 will be having a wee dram and a cuddle because that is absolutely
magic."
This was an opportunity for the group 😆 of players to celebrate their success
with fans, a luxury the pandemic had not afforded them. Families could be picked 😆 out in
the crowd and a long period of celebration enjoyed.
“I say well done to the stadium,
it's the best 😆 I’ve ever seen,” Leipzig manager Domenico Tedesco conceded in his
post-match press conference.
“We toasted on Jimmy’s life, achievements and what 😆 he’s
done for this club. We will miss him for the rest of our lives,” Van Bronckhorst added
in his. 😆 Rangers had achieved the seemingly impossible.
Dortmund was incredible, Red
Star pulsating, Braga exhilarating. Leipzig? Better than them all. Indescribable. No
😆 words written here or elsewhere will be able to truly do that night justice, only grab
at the coattails of 😆 the outpouring of emotion Ibrox bore witness to. And although
somewhat cliché to speak of the role of the crowd, 😆 or the atmosphere, this was
something quite special and totally unique.
Were Leipzig, a team littered with
internationals spooked?
Simply, you cannot 😆 prepare for a night like this, because none
of the players on that pitch had ever played a game quite 😆 like it. They were Guinea
Pigs, the first 22 men exposed to that collective atmosphere and energy.
It reminds us
however 😆 globalised football becomes, however many states buy clubs, however much
disparity is lodged between the haves and have-nots, this game 😆 will always belong to
every one of us. You can’t do anything to buy a night or foster an atmosphere 😆 like
that.
Rangers’ European journey thrilled, surprised and consumed a worldwide audience.
From when it really woke up against Dortmund in 😆 February, refusing to let go of its
ever-tightening grip, to all those Ibrox nights, culminating against Leipzig.
And while
penalties would 😆 deny the trophy travelling back, there will always be Leipzig. When
Ibrox lived, breathed and created history.
