It's 50 years since Colin Stein had Franz Beckenbauer turning the air blue as Rangers blasted their way to Barcelona.
But the Ibrox legend insists his old side don’t need to curse their injury jinx after swearing Gio van Bronckhorst’s current crop are on to a winner against RB Leipzig this week
Back in 1972, Gers refused to mind their Ps and Qs as they blitzed past a star-studded Bayern Munich to cross the penultimate hurdle on the road to Cup Winners’ Cup glory over Moscow Dynamo.
The Bavarians were packed with key figures who’d go on to form the backbone of West Germany’s victorious World Cup winning squad two years later.
Their line-up was packed with iconic names, including star keeper Sepp Maier, midfield men Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeness along with record-setting poacher Gerd Muller.
But it was double Ballon d’Or winner Beckenbauer whose name tripped off the tongue quickest for the 80,000 in attendance for the second leg triumph which sent the Scots marching on their way to the Nou Camp.
Stein’s stand-out moment from their semi-final showdown, though, is the tongue-lashing he got after leaving his boot in on the furious Kaiser.
The German legend didn’t go as far as excusing his French after aiming his four-letter tirade at the Light Blues striker but Stein enjoyed the last laugh as goals from Derek Parlane and the late Sandy Jardine sent Rangers to Spain.
“What a performance it was that night,” he told Record Sport. “I was up against George Schwarzenbeck and Beckenbauer.
“The Kaiser was obviously world class. Everyone talks about his arrogant streak but I think he had every right to be arrogant. He was brilliant.
“Maybe confidence is another way to put it but he was certainly a great player.
“It was tough to face someone of his quality but you just had to keep going and try your best.
“I remember him swearing at me a couple of times, so I must’ve been doing something right.
“It was in English too - it began with an F!
“I think I’d tackled him a couple of times and he didn’t appreciate that.
“But it’s not often you get to tackle Franz Beckenbauer so you’ve got to make it count!”
Stein etched his name into Ibrox folklore with his opener against the Russians in the final, which Waddle’s men won 3-2 to claim the Ibrox outfit’s only European prize to date.
But he played another crucial role in the first leg against Bayern, firing in the cross which tempted Munich defender Rainer Zobel into an OG as the Light Blues hit back from Breitner’s opener.
“It was a really tough game over there but we did well to get a 1-1 draw,” added Stein.
“Bayern were a top, top outfit at that time and favourites for the cup. Their starting line-up was basically the West German national team at that point.
“Most of them were involved a couple of years later when they won the World Cup on home soil. They also had Maier, Breitner and Mueller, who was the best striker in the world at that point.
“So to get a draw over there in Munich was a great result.
“I remember Willie Waddle telling us after the game that we’d put ourselves in a great position with that result.
“He just told us to enjoy the second leg and to make sure we gave 100 per cent. That’s all we could do.
“When we got them back to Ibrox, we managed to score early and from then on we just seemed to be on top of them for the whole game.
“I remember Meuller being really subdued that night. Colin Jackson was marking him and never gave him a sniff.
“The way we all played that night was tremendous and the crowd played a huge part too.
“I think back to what the manager told us then and it’s the same for the current team. Just make sure you give your very best on the night and hope that’s enough. You can’t do any more than that so just make sure you don’t fall short and leave yourselves with regrets.
“If it comes off, it comes off.
“But they shouldn’t fear Leipzig given the way they’ve performed this season.”
The Ibrox faithful would feel a lot more confident about their chances of reaching the Europa League final had their team not suffered a raft of injury blows in the build up to facing Domenico Tedesco’s Bundesliga big guns.
Gio van Bronckhorst has been forced to leave Alfredo Morelos, Kemar Roofe, Ianis Hagi and Aaron Ramsey behind ahead of Thursday’s clash at the Red Bull Arena.
But Stein reckons that just opens up an opportunity for a new face to make themselves a hero, just like 18-year-old Parlane did when he stunned Bayern all those years ago.
He said: “It’s unfortunate that Roofe and Morelos aren’t available. Wee Alfredo has been great this season, especially in Europe.
“It’s a big big loss but they just need to get on with it.
“The players who are coming in have got a great chance - and hopefully they take it like Derek did.
“I like Sakala but for me, he’s not a centre forward. But he can hurt Leipzig with his speed down the wings.
“I think Gio knows what he’s doing, he’s made a few tweaks at times that have managed to turn things around when games haven’t been going our way and hopefully he can come up with a plan that works this time.
“Maybe he could play Ryan Kent through the middle. He’s very quick and has the trickery to hurt teams. Maybe he could take that role through the middle.
“The main thing is to make sure we’re still in the tie for the second leg. If they can keep it to even 1-0 like they did in Braga, that would be a positive result.
“You saw where Braga came to Ibrox, the atmosphere got to them. They were barely in the game before getting that goal which took it to extra-time.
“But I think Rangers have got a very good chance of making the final - a tremendous one over two legs.”
