The night Rangers outclassed a legendary Juventus team - Martyn Ramsay

"After the flop of Argentina, after the defeat in Austria, Scottish football can hold its head high again – thanks to Rangers the magnificent and John Greig, planner supreme.’"                                                                    (Hugh Taylor, Evening Times)

Scottish football was in a rather sheepish mood as the 1978/79 European club competitions commenced. In May, despite losing to England at Hampden in the Home International, Scotland manager Ally McLeod remarked that he was keen to get his hands back on that trophy next year but that "it could be dwarfed by the World Cup". McLeod, the self-proclaimed "born winner", had whipped the country into a frenzy with the genuine belief that they would return from South America that summer with the big one. Thirty thousand fans turned up at the National Stadium to see them off, usually the kind of reception organised for returning heroes parading silverware. Why bother waiting for that? It was a formality. The inevitable disappointment quickly developed into abject humiliation. Peru, Iran, Willie Johnston’s pills, rows over bonus, broken buses and, of course, typically, a fabulous win over Holland with one of the best goals ever scored. It was almost a caricature of Scotland at a World Cup.

Although they too returned home without the World Cup, Italy’s stock was considerably higher. Denied a place in the final by an Arie Haan wonder strike, Italy had to settle for fourth spot, despite having beaten the eventual champions Argentina earlier in the competition. They were a side in the making, however, and, after another fourth-place finish at the 1980 European Championships, they would eventually triumph in 1982 when the World Cup was held in Spain. Many of the key components of that side were already established by 1978. Goalkeeper Dino Zoff, defender Claudio Gentile, sweeper Gaetano Scirea and midfielders Marco Tardelli and Franco Causio all won the World Cup in 1982 and played in that effective semi-final against the Netherlands four years previously. All of them, including Roberto Bettega (who missed out on that success in Madrid due to injury), were genuine legends of the game. All of them played for Juventus.

Eight Juventus players in total played in that World Cup match in Buenos Aires and all were an integral part of Giovanni Trapattoni’s side. During his first spell at Juventus, from 1976 to 1986, ‘Trap’ won six scudetti, the Coppa Italia twice and one each of the European Cup, the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Cup. Both clubs may have been reigning champions but, with a new rookie manager at the Ibrox helm and Juventus having won the first of their European crowns just a year before (the UEFA Cup in 1977), this was an almighty test to overcome in the very first round of the European Cup.

Rangers lost 1-0 in Turin’s Stadio Communale, however, perhaps as a sign of Scottish football’s new found humility, it was treated as a triumph by both the home and continental press. That praise was for the performance which looked different from anything Scottish sides had displayed before. The Italian newspaper La Stampa called it "the most grown up performance ever by a British team in a European tournament," whilst Greig himself declared it ‘the best Rangers display in Europe’ that he’d seen. Perhaps the folly in Argentina accentuated it but it had been the staple approach for Scottish teams when faced with continental opposition: blood and thunder attacks and adventurous cavalier football. Not much in the way of planning, that was for Hungarians and the likes. McLeod had refused, unlike many of the other World Cup managers, to travel to Lima to watch Peru play Argentina a few months before the tournament commenced. It possibly led to him deploying Martin Buchan incorrectly because he believed that Juan Carlos Oblitas played on the right wing instead of the left, and he may not have had to sigh after the game and admit that his "main fault" was not marking the brilliant Teófilo Cubillas, leading The Guardian’s David Lacey to observe that it was "much as a man might reflect, on falling out of an aircraft, that on second thoughts he should have worn a parachute."

Greig’s approach to this challenge was to be smarter than the average bears that had gone before, although he was quite open about it in advance. "Our normal game is to attack and show non-stop aggression. Obviously we can’t do that here. It would be football suicide against such a side as Juventus. There is no point in my beating about the bush, we are here for a draw and if it is a scoring one then so much the better, for no matter what happens in Turin, we’ll still face a tremendous battle in the return at Ibrox."

The start was sadly typical as Juventus scored in eight minutes when Rangers failed to clear their lines from Colin Jackson’s clearance. Giuseppe Furino quickly turned the ball into Pietro Virdis (a £2m signing from Calgiari that summer), whose lighting-fast reactions were able to help him sweep the ball into the corner of McCloy’s goal. Whereas Scotland had faltered in the shadow of the Andes, Rangers grew in stature at the foot of the Alps. It was a performance that had the old-fashioned helping of courage allied with a disciplined organisation and the modern midfield energy of MacDonald, Russell and Alex Miller (brought in to replace the traditional width of McLean) squeezing the Italians out with Sandy Jardine looking as composed a sweeper as Scirea. Juventus were left frustrated and a little unlucky at the end when Cabirni’s cross was deflected onto the post by Jardine, and McCloy made an outstanding save from the resulting Begetta header.  It wasn’t the comfortable evening that most had expected, however. "Life will be very difficult at Ibrox," said Trapattoni.

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He wasn’t wrong. Ibrox may have been missing the Copland Road end, under reconstruction, but it still produced a mighty noise as the tie, so finely balanced, got underway. Again Greig, unlike McLeod, got his team selection spot on. The defence was unchanged from Turin with McCloy in goal, Jardine sweeping up behind Colin Jackson and the Forsyths, Alex and Tam. MacDonald and Russell continued in the middle of the park, as did Derek Parlane and Gordon Smith further afield. Derek Johnstone returned from suspension and Kenny Watson made way for him. Tommy McLean was brought back in for Miller, which the Italians expected, but he was deployed on the left-hand side, which they did not. The resulting confusion gave Rangers an early foothold in the game and the advantage was pressed home within 20 minutes. Francesco Morini spent the night committing fouls for which he received no card but gave away numerous free kicks. It would be the decisive flaw in that very typical Italian game plan of the time. One of his fouls on Johnstone, just over 20 yards from goal, gave Rangers their first opportunity to restore overall parity. A pre-planned set piece involving McLean, Russell and Alex Forsyth led to a weak shot by the latter that ricocheted gently around the cluttered penalty area before falling at the feet of Smith. He controlled it with one touch before getting a shot away that Zoff could only deflect up into the air. Of course it was MacDonald, covering every square foot of the pitch at his usual pace, who was perfectly placed to nod Rangers in front on the night.

The rest of the story was one of patience and control, something MacDonald said Greig had instilled in them when preparing for this game. McLean was a revelation on the ‘wrong’ side, skilfully weaving patterns and dragging one of the world’s best defences, enhanced by the returning Gentile, out of position and drawing foul after foul. It wasn’t the hell-for-leather, blood-and-guts approach that had brought about two European trophies and three other finals for Scottish clubs but derived little else in 48 attempts other than mocking across the continent. This new found maturity reaped its reward with just under 20 minutes remaining and it was from a familiar pattern of play. Morini fouled Johnstone once more and this time it was left for Bobby Russell to swing in a cross from deep. The perfection of the delivery was equalled by the header at the other end. Gordon Smith somehow managed to find space between Gentile and Scirea and cushioned a header down beyond the despairing reach of Zoff. 

One Juventus goal would still have killed the European dream but, as time wore on, not only were Rangers better organised than the Italians, they were fitter too, and opportunities were closed down by a mixture of both planning and stamina. ‘Every Ranger was a hero on a great night,’ wrote Jim Reynolds in The Glasgow Herald. "But I must give special praise to MacDonald, who never gave the Italians any respite; Sandy Jardine, again used in the sweeper’s role and making football connoisseurs forget all about Franz Beckenbauer; McLean, the magician who teased and tormented; and, of course, goal hero Smith. These men were out of this world. The rest? Only brilliant."

Afterwards, Greig was at pains to point out that, understandably given his keenness to position himself as a new modern coach, he would have preferred the goals to come from passing moves on the ground instead of the "old-fashioned sides of Scotland who relied on the high cross and the header". That night would come in Eindhoven when the same controlled composure would create one of the greatest goals in the club’s history as well as another famous scalp. For now, however, the nation needed this Rangers result, along with Aberdeen and Hibs who had also progressed that night. This was the same day that Ally McLeod finally left the Scotland job (incredibly he had stayed on to commence qualification for the European Championships but lost 3-2 to Austria in the opening match) and the press pack were desperate to hang their hat on any triumph but only dared to dream that one would come as big as this. Less was made, meanwhile, of Celtic’s exit from the Anglo–Scottish cup as they lost 2-1 to Burnley.

Albion Rovers, Forfar Athletic and Juventus. Three football clubs that don’t normally feature in the same sentence; however, by this, the 12th game of season 1978/79, these were the only three sides that Rangers had managed to beat. The early struggles to find league wins and even goals (four in six matches and only one at Ibrox) would ultimately provide us with a better sense of how John Greig’s managerial career was likely to shape up rather than the two heroic European showings. Had his side been able to show the same nerve and discipline at Parkhead at the end of that season as they had shown against Juventus and PSV Eindhoven, then marching forward with a treble in the bag, a clutch of young talent and experienced winners might have been a whole lot easier for the new boss. This was evidence that a change in Scottish managerial approach was possible, however. Ultimately it wouldn’t be Greig who developed it further, but instead two managers based in the north of the country: Jim McLean and Alex Ferguson.

The domestic context perhaps added to the delirium experienced by the thousands of Rangers fans who poured out of Ibrox that night. But spare a thought for one young fan who had come all the way from Japan. Hitoshi Sato, a 20-year-old football coach, had come to Britain to watch his favourite sides, Rangers being one. Sadly, on the way back to his hotel on the number-15 bus, over £7,000 in cash and travellers cheques (adjusted for inflation) was stolen from his pocket. There was no robbery inside the stadium, however. Another match that suffers because of the legacy that didn’t follow means that it is still somewhat underrated. Very few sides have turned up at Ibrox with such a depth of proven international class. To be beaten is one thing. To be outclassed is another. In addition, this Rangers side had to do something that night that no other had been able to do before them: overcome a first-leg deficit and directly qualify for the next round. To do that against this legendary side, first round or not, deserves more recognition than it gets. At the very least, it should be half as famous as the flop in Argentina is notorious.