| Event | 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 24 May 1972 | ||||||
| Venue | Camp Nou,Barcelona | ||||||
| Referee | José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain) | ||||||
| Attendance | 35,000 | ||||||
←1971 1973 → | |||||||
The1972 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match between Scottish teamRangers andSoviet teamDynamo Moscow. It took place at theCamp Nou inBarcelona on 24 May 1972 in front of a crowd of 35,000. It was the final of the1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup, one of three football competitions run byUEFA at the time. It was the 12thEuropean Cup Winners' Cup final in history.
Both teams had to go through four qualifying rounds to get reach the final. Rangers won three of their four qualifying ties in regulation time, with their second round tie againstSporting CP going into extra time. Dynamo was required to win a penalty shootout to beat Dynamo Berlin in their semi-final. The final was the Rangers' third in European competition, having lost the previous two in 1961 and 1967. This was the first time a Soviet team had reached a European final.
Rangers scored two goals before half time and added a third minutes into the second half. Dynamo pulled a goal back midway through the second half and scored a late second towards the end of the game. The match finished 3–2 to Rangers.
The end of the match was overshadowed by a pitch invasion just before full time. The fans were cleared so the final minute of the match could be played. Fans made their way back onto the pitch once the final whistle had been blown, causing Rangers captainJohn Greig having to be awarded the trophy inside the stadium buildings. Despite the off-field violence the victory is considered to be the greatest in the club's history and the team was given the nickname the Barcelona Bears.
 Rangers |  Dynamo Moscow | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | |
 Rennes | 2–1 | 1–1 (A) | 1–0 (H) | First round |  Olympiacos | 3–2 | 2–0 (A) | 1–2 (H) |
 Sporting CP | 6–6 (a) | 3–2 (H) | 3–4 (a.e.t.) (A) | Second round |  Eskişehirspor | 2–0 | 1–0 (A) | 1–0 (H) |
 Torino | 2–1 | 1–1 (A) | 1–0 (H) | Quarter-finals |  Red Star Belgrade | 3–2 | 2–1 (A) | 1–1 (H) |
 Bayern Munich | 3–1 | 1–1 (A) | 2–0 (H) | Semi-finals |  Dynamo Berlin | 2–2 (4–1p) | 1–1 (A) | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (H) |
Rangers began their route to the final by beatingStade Rennes 2–1 on aggregate. The first leg was drawn 1–1 with Willie Johnston scoring for Rangers. Rangers won the return leg 1–0 throughAlex MacDonald. The second round saw Rangers playSporting CP from Portugal. Rangers led the first half of the first leg 3–0, but lost two goals in the second half to lead 3–2 going into the second leg. The second leg finished 3–2 to Sporting, 5–5 on aggregate.Willie Henderson scored for Rangers in extra time but Rangers then lost a goal with six minutes left to make it 6–6 on aggregate. What followed has been described as being one of the most bizarre incidents in the history of any European tournament.[1] The Dutch referee Laurens van Raavens failed to recognise that Rangers, having scored threeaway goals to Sporting's two, had won the tie. But the referee made both teams take five penalties each, with Rangers losing theshootout. After Rangers manager Willie Waddell pointed out the away goals rule toUEFA, the referee was overruled, the result overturned and Rangers were heading into the next round.[1] Rangers then playedTorino, Italian league leaders at the time, and won 2–1 on aggregate. In the semi-final Rangers playedBayern Munich, who had beaten Rangers in thefinal five years previously in Nuremberg. Rangers progressed 3–1 on aggregate to reach their third European final.
Dynamo Moscow began their campaign by defeatingOlympiakos 3–2 on aggregate, before beating the Turkish sideEskişehirspor 3–0. Moscow's quarter final was againstRed Star from Yugoslavia, who had reached the semi-final of the European cup the previous year. Moscow made it through 3–1 on aggregate again. In the semi-final Moscow played Dynamo Berlin from Germany. Scores were drawn 1–1 after both the first and second leg. Dynamo Moscow went through after a penalty shootout to become the first Russian club to reach a European final. The Russian players could have been awarded the coveted title Master of Sport, had they won in Barcelona.[1]
Dynamo Moscow were the first Soviet team to reach the final of a European football competition and as a result were not used to playing in such a high-profile match.[2] Before the team left Moscow they were presented ideological speeches from Communist Party bosses aimed at motivating the players.[2] Before the event, many concerns were expressed for possible troubles between Spanish police and Russian supporters. Due to the political background of the time in Spain, with the last years ofFrancisco Franco's right-wingdictatorship. Dynamo Moscow had an array of talented forward players including Gennady Evryuzhihin, Vladimir Kozlov, Anatoly Kozhemyakin, Michail Gershkovich, Anatoly Baydachny and Vladimir Eshtrekov. The manager Konstantin Beskov normally played three or four forwards in all of their matches.[2]
Rangers had played in two previous European finals and were the first Scottish club to do so in 1961. Having been narrowly beaten in 1967 by Bayern Munich, Rangers were wanting to make amends. The previous year 66 Rangers supporters had died in theIbrox disaster, a memory that was very recent in the minds of the support and the team.[3] Rangers captain John Greig had grown a beard which he explained after Rangers victory against Sporting that it was a good luck omen and he would only shave it off when they were put out of the competition.[3]
Dynamo were missing Kozlov and Kozhemyakin through injury and tried to play a more defensive type of game to contain Rangers. Rangers employed an attacking line up and had a two-goal lead by half time. The first was scored by forwardColin Stein with the assist provided by Dave Smith. The second was scored byWillie Johnston after he headed in aDave Smith pass with six minutes to go before half time. Rangers went 3–0 up minutes into the second half as Willie Johnston scored his second after a long kick out by goalkeeperPeter McCloy. Dynamo Moscow came back into the match when with thirty minutes left for play Eshtrekov scored after a defensive mistake from the Rangers back line. Dynamo continued to pressure however the Rangers keeper Peter McCloy twice made fine saves from Gershkovich and Sandy Jardine cleared off the line from Evryuzhihin. Moscow found their second with three minutes left with a goal fromMakhovikov. Rangers held on to secure their only trophy in Europe in front of almost 25,000 people, albeit there was no award ceremony in the stadium due to the Rangers fans pitch invasion.
The end of the contest was overshadowed by apitch invasion by hundreds of Rangers supporters one minute before the final whistle, which held the game up for several minutes.[1][2] In the sixties and seventies it was common to see pitch invasions at matches, including European finals - this generally happened after the end of the game, which was not the case in this match.[4] At the time Spain was still under political oppression by fascist dictatorFrancisco Franco and revolts were violently repressed by armed Policía Armada (Armed Police). In 2015 interviewYozhef Sabo said that the pitch invasion occurred about seven minutes after Eshtrekov scored a goal which caused the game to be paused and then again soon after the Makhovikov's goal after which the referee simply ended the game.[5]
While it was argued that the pitch invaders may simply have been celebrating victory prematurely due to the misinterpretation of the final whistle (the referee had blown for a throw-in) the Dynamo Moscow team believed that the pitch invasion was a calculated action by the fans designed to stop the Soviet side's momentum.[2][6] In the final minutes, Dynamo were pressing hard to equalise but the sudden pitch invasion gave the Rangers defenders respite.[6] Colin Stein later reflected on the game and stated that he believed the pitch invasion made it harder for the Rangers side during the final minutes of the game.[7] Dynamo players claimed that they were attacked during this invasion,[6] while bottles were thrown at police, whose actions have been described as heavy-handed.[1]
After the game's final whistle there was a larger pitch invasion by Rangers supporters and as a result of this the trophy was presented to Rangers captainJohn Greig inside the stadium buildings.[1]
| Rangers | 3–2 | Dynamo Moscow |
|---|---|---|
Stein 23'Johnston 40',49' | Report | Eshtrekov 60' Makhovikov 87' |
      Rangers |     Dynamo Moscow |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rangers victory meant that they qualified for the1972 European Super Cup where they played the 1972 European Cup winnersAFC Ajax, however they lost the final 6–3 over two legs.
Rangers victory in the final has been heralded as one of the greatest achievements in the club's history. Sandy Jardine who played in the final placed the victory at the very top of the club's achievements.[9] The team that won the final became known as theBarcelona Bears.[10] In 2006 Rangers openedBar 72 in the Govan stand which was named in honour of the team that won the Cup Winners Cup.[11] In 2012 Rangers celebrated 40 years since winning the trophy by wearing a 2012–13 home strip of a similar style as the one worn during the 1972 final.[12]
In the days following the match, Dynamo Moscow and the Soviet FA demanded a replay on the grounds of the pitch invasion which took place before the final whistle.[2][5] Rangers supporters later complained about the severity and indiscriminate nature of the beatings from the police, in which many jubilant rather than violent supporters were caught up.[13] Veteran Scottish broadcasterArchie MacPherson, who covered the game, has stated that the trouble was "eminently avoidable" and relates how Reuters' correspondent at the match remarked to him that, "What you are seeing down there is Franco's Fascist police in action".[14] After initially denying his club's culpability, the then Rangers managerWillie Waddell criticised the fans who had invaded the pitch.[13][15]
While UEFA initially seemed sympathetic with the Russians and some neutral commentators agreed that the game should be replayed,[2] no replay was ever scheduled and Rangers kept the trophy. However, Rangers did lose the right to defend the trophy as they were handed a two-year ban from European competition following their fans' behaviour. This was later reduced to a one-year ban.[16]
