'Smelly' Russell recalls glory goal when class of '78 triumphed in Eindhoven

NO-ONE could say Rangers had it easy when they began their European Cup campaign in 1978/79. They had a rookie manager in John Greig and Scotland's poor performance in the recent World Cup finals in Argentina weighed heavily on their shoulders.

However, the Ibrox club did their best to lift the gloom, despite being handed two of the toughest possible challenges in the opening rounds. First they knocked out Juventus, then one of Europe's finest sides. For that they were rewarded with a trip to the Netherlands and a tie against another group of exceptional players, some of whom had played in the World Cup final just a few months earlier when the Netherlands lost out to Argentina.

PSV Eindhoven were understandably confident of progressing, more so when they opened the scoring inside the first minute after having held Rangers 0-0 at Ibrox. The visitors still trailed 1-0 at half-time but equalised through Alex MacDonald and, after PSV had again gone ahead, earned an advantage in the tie with another away goal, scored by Derek Johnstone.

The stage was now set for Bobby Russell, who had only broken into the Ibrox side the previous season. But he had already posted evidence of his talent. "It was one of those situations where a manager would have been tearing his hair out," Russell told Uefa.com. "Normally at 2-2 you would just sit back, defend for your life and hope to go through on away goals. But we managed to break down one of their moves and, a couple of passes later, I was through on goal. It was a good passing move involving Gordon Smith and Tommy McLean and I was delighted to see the ball go into the corner of the net."

Russell is too modest. After taking possession of McLean's intelligent pass across the Dutch defence, he drew the 'keeper before curling a shot around him into the corner of the net. The BBC later rated it as their goal of the season.

"For some reason my luggage didn't arrive in Eindhoven so I only had the clothes I was travelling in and, when I scored, Alex MacDonald shouted: 'Well done, smelly!'," recalled Russell. "It was only when we got home and people were waiting for us at the airport that it started to sink in that we had created a bit of history."

Defeat was a major shock for PSV, who the previous season had beaten Bastia to win the Uefa Cup then put six past Fenerbahce in their first European home tie of 1978/79.

"We did not expect to get knocked out by Rangers at all," midfielder Rene van de Kerkhof said. "If you draw away, then normally you just finish the job at home." Van de Kerkhof still attends PSV home matches and knows the club have not beaten Scottish opposition in six attempts. "Later we lost at home against Dundee United (2-0 in 1982] while PSV lost again to Rangers in the UEFA Champions League (1-0 in 1999]," he recalled."Scottish opponents don't suit us, especially Rangers, but there's a Dutch saying 'Drie maal is scheepsrecht' (third-time lucky]."

Rangers could not sustain their form and, surprisingly, bowed out meekly to Cologne in the quarter-finals. However, Greig's side recovered to win both Scottish and League Cups.