In stark contrast to season 98/99’s £35m spree, summer 1999 saw only two players arrive at Ibrox, Michael Mols; a £4m purchase from Utrecht, and Dariuz Adamczuk, a Polish International who had proven himself a handy player in the darker-blue of Dundee. The first Champions League Qualifier saw Finnish minnows FC Haka dispatched with a minimum of fuss, the 7-1 aggregate scoreline serving to highlight both Rangers’ superiority and perhaps the folly of then signing their centre-half and Captain, no doubt still punch-drunk from the battering his side had just received.
The next Qualifier was however a much sterner test. UEFA Cup holders Parma had their swarthy eyes firmly trained on Champions League glory, and had underlined that goal by splashing serious cash that summer. Circa £60m was spent beefing-up their squad with the likes of Brazilian Marcio Amoroso and ‘New Maradonna’ Ariel Ortega, neatly complimenting World Cup winner Lilian Thuram, future World Cup winners Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon, ‘about-to-be-world’s-most-expensive-player’ Hernan Crespo and Italian legend Dino Baggio.
Third Round Champions League Qualifier - First Leg
Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow.
Attendance: 49,263
Rangers: Klos, Porrini, Moore, Amoruso, Vidmar (Albertz 55), Ferguson, van Bronckhorst, Mols, Wallace, Reyna, McCann
Subs not used: Niemi, Amato, Adamczuk, Wilson, Johanssen, McInnes.
Parma: Buffon, Sartor, Baggio (Fuser 60), Ortega (Torrisi 37), Boghossian, Cannavaro (sent off 26), Di Vaio (Stanic 85), Thuram, Serena, Vanoli, Walem.
Subs not used: Micillo, Benarrivo, Breda, Montano.
As we all remember, Rangers secured a 2-0 victory in the first leg, thanks to goals from Tony Vidmar and Claudio Reyna, both involving fantastic, flowing football in the build-up, with Neil McCann getting the credit for two excellent assists. Fabio Cannavaro was dismissed in the 26th minute for picking up his second yellow card, both cautions coming courtesy of fouls on Rod Wallace. Wallace’s movement was undoubtedly the key to our victory; Cannavaro was being pulled all over the pitch trying to pin him down (and indeed, both fouls he received yellows for occurred whilst he was out of position). Our evening could have been ever better had Wallace not missed a late chance (in fairness it was a good save by Buffon) and van Bronckhorst not wildly mis-hit a shot whilst clean-through. Special mention must also go to 20 year-old Barry Ferguson, who dominated Dino Baggio to such a degree that the moustachioed Italian was substituted early in the second half. We must also praise Stefan Klos for an outstanding reflex save from a Diego Fuser half-volley, after an Amoruso clearance had landed horrendously perfectly on the foot of the Italian on the edge of our box.
The image of Buffon slumped against the goalpost after our second goal is one which serves to highlight just how devastating a loss this was for the Italian side. They didn’t spend £60m plus to firm-up their defence of the UEFA Cup! Match reports from the night can be read here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...s-1112285.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/417699.stm.
The second leg of the tie was as tense and nervous an occasion as I can recall. Any Bear who experienced our recent UEFA Cup exploits will be familiar with the tactics Advocaat adopted that night, with Dariuz Adamczuk brought in for Neil McCann and a 4-4-1-1 formation utilised. Stefan Klos was injured, thus Lionel Charbonnier came in from the cold to keep nets. The Frenchman had missed the majority of the previous season and this was his first competitive match in God-knows how long, and in the early stages, he kept us in it. Our backline was defending so deep Buffon didn’t touch the ball until well-after the half-hour mark. Ortega, Crespo and Fuser had efforts turned round the post by the Frenchman, and shock-starter Adamczuk was earning his wages by throwing himself into each and every tackle.
Goal-less (and breathless) at half-time we emerged for the second half determined to hold firm in the stifling Italian heat. Our first chance of the night came from the silky left-foot our heroic first-leg performer, Tony Vidmar. A quick break up field saw the ball come to Tony 25 yards from goal, what followed was a peach of a drive which cracked high off the near-post, with Buffon stranded, looking foolish and sucking his thumb (probably). It is worth noting that at that stage, Parma had never been beaten at home in European competition. Tony’s wonder-effort would have out us one-up in the 56th minute. Tony’s genius spurred us on, and shortly thereafter, a superb Reyna cross was met by the head of Rod Wallace, who despite falling the wrong way, managed to twist his neck and thunder a header towards the near post, which Buffon - now recovered from his Tony-awe - did well to turn round the post.
It wasn’t long before our admirable (if desperate) resistance was broken. Johann Walem lined up a free-kick from around thirty yards, which Charbonnier somehow managed to let squirm under his body and into the net. At this point, one would have been forgiven for predicting that the roof was about to cave in. Colin Hendry and Jorg Albertz (!?!?) were brought on to add height to the defensive wall as Parma threw everything at us in the closing stages. Craig Brown infuriated Channel Five viewers by spending the last ten minutes telling us all from the co-commentary position that “Rangers look like doing it” and “I don’t think Parma will score again” but thankfully, his fate-baiting amounted to nothing and Rangers held firm, dumping out arguably the strongest seed in the qualifying section.
I remember proudly watching Gazetta on Channel Four the following weekend, where Fabio Capello (then Roma manager) was being interviewed. He was asked who he wanted in the Champions League group stages and replied “Anyone but Rangers”. It would be disingenuous not to say that this comment followed a discussion about Parma’s defeat, but nonetheless, it was a nice moment which goes some way to affirming what a massive result this was both in Scottish and Italian football.
We can never be totally sure to what extent this defeat impacted on Parma’s immediate future, but just as Parma were geared for the glitz and glamour of the Champions League, so too were we. The wild celebrations that followed from the Rangers bench post-match remind us that we had spent almost £40m for that moment, the sheer dejection on the faces of our Italian counterparts a stark contrast to our sweat-soaked relief. Thereafter Parma never once qualified for the Champions League, before serious financial difficulties set in and the club were relegated to Serie B, following the sales of Cannavaro, Thuram, Crespo and Buffon, bringing in roughly £100m (!).
As a club we need no reminding as to how vital the Champions League honey pot is, and we would be well-served to heed the lessons which can be learned from a club such as Parma; lessons which we helped teach them ourselves.