GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst has been urged to adopt the ultra-defensive “Wattenacio” tactics which helped Rangers reach the UEFA Cup final back in 2008 in the rematch with RB Leipzig tomorrow evening.
The Scottish champions trail their German opponents heading into the second leg of the Europa League semi-final at Ibrox after losing 1-0 in the Red Bull Arena last Thursday night.
Every fan who heads for Govan will have an opinion on how James Tavernier and his team mates can come from behind and book their place in the final in Seville on May 18.
But it is well worth listening to the thoughts of Rangers great Dave Smith – who captained the Glasgow giants to a famous 2-0 win over the mighty Bayern Munich in the European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final back in 1972 – on the matter.
Smith, who has just released his autobiography to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Barcelona Bears’ victory over Moscow Dynamo in the final of that competition, was over in Saxony for the first leg last week.
He was pleased with how Van Bronckhorst’s charges acquitted themselves against their Bundesliga rivals despite the outcome at the end of the 90 minutes and thinks his old club are more than capable of progressing.
However, the former sweeper, who set up the opening two goals in the 3-2 triumph over Dynamo in the Nou Camp, has concerns about the Ibrox encounter.
He was impressed with Leipzig front men Dani Olmo, Emil Forsberg, Yussuf Poulsen, Dominik Szoboszlai, Christopher Nkunku and Andre Silva and suspects they will be able to capitalise on any scoring chances which fall their way.
The ex-Scotland internationalist would like to see Champions League winner Van Bronckhorst take a cautious approach to the fixture – just like his predecessor Walter Smith did in the matches against Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup 14 years ago.
“I have a supporters club named after me up in Fraserburgh, the Dave Smith Loyal Fraserburgh RSC, and I go with them to matches at Ibrox,” he said as he promoted The Road to Barcelona: The Glory of ’72 And My Life In Football. “I still go to away games now and then as well.
“I was in Leipzig and thought Rangers did very well. They were very well organised. They gave possession to Leipzig, lots of possession. But Leipzig only had three shots at goal all game. In the first-half they didn’t have a single shot at goal. That was down to Rangers rearguard doing very well.
“In the second-half, Leipzig possibly could have scored earlier than they did. Losing the late goal was heartbreaking. But if you had said before the game Rangers would lose 1-0 the fans and probably the manager would have accepted that. The game is still alive.”
Smith added: “My only worry on Thursday is Rangers have to open up a wee bit. If that happens and there is more space between the back four and the midfield then gaps will open up and they can exploit them.
“It will probably be a more open game at Ibrox and their forwards are pretty nippy. That worries me a bit. A lot depends on how the manager sets his team up. If he sets it up much the same as he did in Germany then Rangers can score on the break.
“But the other problem he has is up front. I don’t think we have any firepower up front at the moment. We miss (Alfredo) Morelos. Even if he isn’t scoring, he is keeping the centre backs occupied. We haven’t really got anyone else who does that.
“But there’s all to play for. It’s a big one for the players. They will be right up for it. It isn’t every season that Rangers reach a European final. They’ve done it once in the last 50 years.
“It makes you wonder whether they should revert to playing the way they did when they got to the UEFA Cup final in Manchester in 2008. It was a backs-to-the-wall campaign that one.
“That was how Walter set Rangers up in that tournament and it worked for him up until the Zenit St Petersburg game. The set-up was first and foremost not to lose goals. The only problem was that in the final we had to go out and win.”
Smith donned the captain’s armband in the second leg of the European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich in 1972 after regular skipper John Greig was ruled out by an injury.
The visitors fielded, among others, Frank Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner, Uli Hoeness, Sepp Maier and Gerd Muller and would go on to dominate the continental game and win the European Cup in 1974, 1975 and 1976.
However, Willie Waddell’s men, who had drawn 1-1 with Udo Lattek’s superstars away a fortnight earlier, bossed the match from start to finish and ran out deserved victors.
“That night we went on to the park knowing we were Rangers players and were expected to win,” said Smith. “By the Rangers fans anyway, maybe not by the rest of the nation.
“There were 80,000 people there and the atmosphere was quite electric. I don’t think the Germans had experienced an atmosphere like that before. I’m not saying that it fazed them, but we knew we were on our way when they started arguing amongst themselves.
“We got off to a great start when Sandy Jardine scored with his left foot in the first minute. Sandy scoring with his left foot was unheard of. But Sandy was a great player, probably one of the first attacking full-backs.
“Derek Parlane got another one in the first-half and that was us more or less home and dry. We could have done anything that night. Everything clicked for us and everything went wrong for them. We had Bud (Willie Johnston) sitting on the ball at one point. It was a great experience.
“I will be there on Thursday and hoping the boys can win and get to the final.”
The Road to Barcelona: The Glory of ’72 And My Life In Football by Dave Smith with Paul Smith is published by Birlinn and is available to buy now.
