This Day in History: 2023-08-17

Nr. 500

FANS SPOIL RANGERS’ BIG DAY (1972)

On 24 May 1972 Glasgow Rangers reached the pinnacle of European football without one of their thousands of fans witnessing it. Rangers were presented with the European Cup Winners’ Cup in a back room of Barcelona’s Nou Camp Stadium while on the pitch drink-fuelled fans clashed with baton-wielding police. As Rangers raced to an early 3-0 lead over Moscow Dynamo their fans broke onto the pitch several times before Dynamo’s two-goal fightback led to a mass invasion. As the battle raged, Rangers were quietly handed the trophy followed by a two-year ban by UEFA for their fans’ appalling behaviour.

Rangers players hold somewhat subdued celebrations in their dressing room after their fans’ behaviour had incited crowd trouble.