With both Marseille and Rangers equal on points going into the final two games of the 1992/93 Champions League campaign it was always going to be a nail-biting, dramatic climax to the European adventure. Rangers had managed to match Marseille’s result in every game, however the French champions had racked up a greater goal difference by destroying a young CSKA Moscow side 6-0 in the South of France. The Velodrome was the setting for the first of the final two games in a match that could have seen the winners go straight onto the final in Munich.
Just under a thousand Rangers fans were allocated tickets for the match, as the club had refused to take the full 4000 allocation. The vast majority ‘officially’ there were housed inside makeshift netting in front of the Marseille fans as a supposed means of stopping missiles hitting our support. Marseille dominated the first half and put us under pressure from the start. A move that started when Davie Robertson uncharacteristically gave away possession led to the opening goal as Franck Sauzee’s fiercely driven shot could not be kept out by Goram. The turning point, though, came just after half time when a Sauzee free kick fortunately smashed off the bar with Goram helpless.
Seven minutes later a Trevor Steven corner was flicked on by a Marseille defender straight into the path of Ian Durrant who lashed the ball past Fabian Barthez with the outside of his right boot. Durrant had been in sensational form throughout the campaign and played as well as he had after the horror injury that had robbed him of so much of his career. Despite a few breakaway chances Rangers could not capitalise and the one goal that was needed to reach the final agonisingly did not come. As the final whistle sounded it was our fans who were celebrating as the Marseille support jeered fearing the worst. This performance was typical of the fight and refusal to lose that had been the hallmark of The Rangers spirit during this campaign.
With the win-less CSKA side, who were thrashed in France, due to come to Ibrox and Marseille having to face a Club Brugge side who were undefeated in Europe at home for three years our support had started to believe. The atmosphere inside the ground was typically loud but with a great deal of tension as this was the biggest night for the club in over thirty years. Still without Mark Hateley through suspension, Rangers were reliant on ‘Super Ally’ to provide the main goal threat and end his Champions League goal-drought. Ally was level at that time with Ralph Brand and Alex Scott’s European goal record of twelve for the club and to say the record should have been broken that night would be putting it mildly.
As news of an early Marseille goal in Brugge filtered through the tension in the stadium increased as chance after chance went begging. Twenty year old Moscow goalkeeper Evgueni Plotnikov was in inspired form as he pulled off some outstanding stops to keep the game level. A Trevor Steven shot into the ground bounced off the top of the bar and over and a long range drive from John Brown was amazingly touched wide by Plotnikov. The biggest culprit on the night was McCoist who had five clear cut chances to score and a couple of half chances but it was not to be.
Ultimately the result was meaningless as Marseille had got the win they required through an Alen Bokšić goal. Looking back at the footage, and knowing now what we do about Tapie and the allegations made by CSKA, one can’t help but be suspicious of the shocking defending by Brugge that night for the decisive goal. When we know what Marseille were found guilty of it does beg the question of what they actually got away with.
As the chants of ‘We’ll support you evermore’ rang round the stadium many of the players lay slumped on the turf with McCoist in tears and Richard Gough sporting his usual bloodied face. It was a night of disappointment but also of pride. Not even the Manchester final can compare with the feeling of dejection this match gave such was the expectation going in to it. A domestic treble eventually went a long way to lifting the gloom and a feeling of expectancy for the next year in Europe then emerged. Having made our mark in Europe that year it should have been the start of an exciting period for us in the Champions League. But sadly, as future campaigns so painfully remind us, it was to be a false dawn - though the adventure still remains a treasured memory of mine.
With thanks once again to A_B_B and vanbasten