Famous Battle of Britain results as Rangers host Liverpool

Ibrox Park will host the latest battle of Britain clash when Rangers play Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Following on from last week’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield, the southside of Glasgow is set for another special night of football between the Scottish Premiership and English Premier League giants.

Last Tuesday’s clash was the first ever competitive meeting between the two sides but it’s just the latest instalment in a long history of clashes between Scottish and English in European competition.

STV News takes a look back at some of the most memorable results for Scottish sides against opposition from south of the border.

October 1992 – Rangers 2-1 Leeds United (4-2 on aggregate) in the Champions League

SNS Group via SNS Group

Rangers were drawn against English champions Leeds United in the second round of the first ever Champions League following its rebrand from the old European Cup format.

A place in the new group stage, that was then the round before the final, was at stake when Howard Wilkinson’s side, with Scotland international Gary McAllister and Eric Cantona both starting, arrived in Glasgow for the first leg.

McAllister scored the opener after only three minutes, but his goal was cancelled out by a John Lukic own goal before Ally McCoist put the home side 2-1 up in the first half.

The game ended 2-1 and Rangers then travelled to Elland Road for the second leg and secured their place in the groups with another 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Mark Hateley and McCoist.

March 2003: Liverpool 0-2 Celtic (1-3 on aggregate) in the UEFA Cup quarter-final

SNS Group

Celtic dumped the Merseyside club out of the UEFA cup at the quarter-final stage in 2003 thanks to a memorable win at Anfield.

Englishman Alan Thompson and Welsh forward John Hartson scored the goals that helped the Scottish side to a 2-0 win.

The game following a 1-1 first leg in Glasgow with goals from Henrik Larsson and Emille Heskey at Celtic Park.

Martin O’Neill’s men would continue their run all the way to the final in Seville where they lost 3-2 to Porto in extra-time.

September 1981: Aberdeen 3-1 Ipswich Town (4-2 on aggregate) in the UEFA Cup

SNS Group

Aberdeen beat the reigning UEFA Cup champions with a win that kick-started a golden period in Europe under Alex Ferguson in the 1980s.

Following a 1-1 draw at Portman Road a week earlier Bobby Robson took his side to Pittodrie for the first-round clash just a few months after they lifted the trophy.

Scotland internationals John Wark, for Ipswich, and Gordon Strachan, for Aberdeen, both scored from the spot to make it 1-1 at half-time.

A second half double from Peter Weir sealed the 4-2 aggregate victory.

November 2006 – Celtic 1-0 Manchester United in the Champions League

Jeff Holmes via SNS Group

Shunsuke Nakamura will forever be immortalised at Celtic for his outrageous free-kick against Manchester United in 2006.

The Japanese curled an unstoppable 30-yard effort beyond the stretching Edwin van der Sar to take Celtic through to the knockout stage.

Artur Boruc also saved a last-minute penalty from Louis Saha.

The Manchester United side, who won the tournament the following season, included Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney with legendary Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson at the helm

Celtic Park has seen many famous European nights, but this victory, that sealed a place in the last-16, is well up there as one of the best.

September 2010: Manchester United 0-0 Rangers in the Champions League

SNS Group

Walter Smith’s Rangers side took a point home to Glasgow following a backs to the wall display against Alex Ferguson’s star studied Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Top names including Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs failed to inspire the then English champions to victory in front of 75,000 fans at the Theatre of Dreams.

An ultra-defensive Rangers line-up that included a back five of Weir, Bougherra, Broadfoot, Papac and Whittaker kept the EPL giants at bay to secure a well-earned 0-0 draw.

April 1970: Celtic 2-1 Leeds United European Cup semi-final (3-1 on aggregate) – European attendance record

Celtic reached their second European Cup final in three years following a two-legged clash with English champions Leeds United in 1970.

George Connelly got the Hoops off to the perfect start at Elland Road with the only goal in a 1-0 victory.

There was such a high demand for the game that it had to be moved from Celtic Park, which held 80,000 at the time, to Hampden.

A record crowd of over 130,000 were in attendance at the National Stadium for what remains the biggest attendance for any game in the European Cup or Champions League.

Billy Bremner silenced the huge crowd by levelling the tie in the first half of the second leg, but Celtic responded and eased their way into the final thanks to goals from John Hughes and Bobby Murdoch.

March 1961: Rangers 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-1 on aggregate) Cup Winners Cup semi-final

SNS Group

Rangers reached their first ever European final after a semi-final victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Cup Winners’ Cup of 1962.

Goals from Alex Scott and Ralph Brand sealed a 2-0 first leg victory in the southside of Glasgow and set up a final with Italian side Fiorentina.

The Serie A side would win the tournament, the first even Cup Winner Cup, with a 4-1 aggregate win in the two-legged final.

Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Celtic (0-3 on aggregate) UEFA Cup

SNS Group via SNS Group

As Celtic embarked on a memorable run to the UEFA Cup final they also claimed another EPL scalp when they defeated Graeme Souness’ side home and away.

After the first leg, when Celtic won 1-0 in Glasgow, Souness was quoted as saying “it was men against boys” in Blackburn’s favour.

But the Hoops proved they were worthy of the victory with a dominant display at Ewood Park.

Goals from Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson sealed the 3-0 aggregate victory.

Follow STV News on WhatsApp

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country