Rangers had started the first three matches of the initial Champions League campaign of 1992/93 extremely well. A spirited fightback against Marseille, when all looked lost, gave a good base to work from and an indication of the resolve this team possessed. The win over CSKA in Bochum and a fantastic 2nd half performance against Brugge in Belgium to secure a draw had left us level on points with group favourites Marseille. The remaining three matches were to be some of the most memorable in all of our outings in the Champions League.
A wet night in March on a terrible Ibrox pitch was the setting for the return fixture with Belgian Champions Club Brugge. Rangers had to win the match to realistically keep pace with Marseille as the crucial next match would be in the Velodrome in France and Marseille were beginning to hit top form.
Brugge settled quickly and the searing pace of Nigerian danger man Amokachi caused panic in Rangers defence early on. Rangers attempted to hit back with half chances through McCall, Brown and McCoist but with no breakthrough coming. Midway through the second half Brugge midfielder Gert Verheyen broke free and went one on one with Goram with the Goalie pulling off a fantastic stop to touch the ball round the post as the Copland rose their feet to a man to applaud.
The fans had begun to get nervy as they sensed Brugge were beginning to cause problems on the break. Rangers recovered from the scare and six minutes before half time a wonderful piece of vision by Trevor Steven - a defence splitting pass - was latched onto by Ian Durrant who took a touch and then expertly buried a low shot past Verlinden to take the roof off the stadium.
The joy was short lived as Mark Hateley was sent off shortly after for pushing Brugge defender Cossey with a closed fist on the face (which sounds a lot worse than it actually was). Brugge had struggled to cope with Hateley in both games and there had been a fair amount of needle between Hateley and the Brugge defence who had no answer to his physical style and aerial ability. The decision may have been one of the key moments in the whole campaign that year as Hateley would sit out the crucial remaining two fixtures.
Rangers were denied a stonewall penalty at the start of the second half when McCoist was bundled to the ground in the box after chasing down a through ball. The decision was to prove costly as Brugge went up the park and equalised through Staelens. Down to ten men Rangers had looked in trouble but Durrant and Steven rose to the occasion and started to run the show as they dominated the middle of the pitch exploiting the space and time afforded in the European game with their sublime passing ability.
A break through still looked unlikely though until the 75th minute when an attempted cross by Scot Nisbet from the right wing deflected off a Brugge defender and spun wickedly over Dany Verlinden into the net after skidding off the rutted pitch. “It might be the biggest fluke in Europe this season but who cares?” was the immortal line by the English TV commentator to describe Nissy’s spectacular goal. Nisbet running to the enclosure and nearly hugging the akward Polish UEFA official has to be seen to do it justice ! Perhaps this was the highlight of a career that was so cruelly cut short through injury.
Marseille reminded everyone of their talent with a crushing 6-0 victory over CSKA in France on the same night. CSKA manager Kostilev would later state to Russian papers that he had received a phone call from someone claiming to work for the Marseille board offering them money to lose the match. He also said that similar attempts had been made by Marseille officials prior to the earlier game in Berlin which had finished in a draw. Given what we know now about Tapie and co the allegations don’t seem very far-fetched however they were never proven.
With both clubs on 7 points Rangers and Marseille would go head to head in the Velodrome with the winner being guaranteed a place in the final in Munich. We were given little chance in the South of France that night but Rangers were once again to give Marseille and the crooked Tapie a major fright in their relentless quest for Champions League glory.