By Alistair Aird
After securing a top eight finish in the revamped Europa League group stage, Rangers know they will face one of four possible opponents in the last 16. They will either be drawn against FC Twente Enschede, Fenerbahçe, Anderlecht or FK Bodo/Glimt. While we have yet met the Norwegians in a European tie, Rangers have had previous encounters against the other three.
This is the third in a series of three articles that will reflect on those matches with a fourth piece following which looks at some fixtures Rangers have had against opposition from Norway.
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Part 3 looks back at two jousts between Rangers and Fenerbahçe as the pair battled for a place in the group stages of the Champions League. It would be a tie that Michael Mols would not forget in a hurry.
After finishing as runners-up behind Celtic in season 2000/01, Dick Advocaat’s Rangers needed to negotiate two qualifying rounds to make it the 2001/02 Champions League group stages. They comfortably cleared the first hurdle, defeating NK Maribor 6-1 on aggregate, which meant Fenerbahçe from Turkey were the final barrier that had to be broken down on the path to European Football’s Promised Land.
This wasn’t the first time a Rangers side had faced a team from Turkey in European competition. Back in season 1973/74, John Greig scored twice at Ibrox as Ankaragucu were beaten 6-0 on aggregate in the European Cup Winners Cup, and the previous season, Advocaat’s side faced Galatasaray in Champions League Group D. A 3-2 defeat in Turkey was followed by a 0-0 draw at Ibrox.
Rangers had played only two league fixtures before the welcomed Fenerbahçe to Ibrox for the first leg on 8 August. Goals from Caniggia, Nerlinger and Latapy had earned a 3-0 win at Pittodrie before Livingston held firm at Ibrox to eke out a 0-0 draw. And four days after that, there would be a similar outcome when the formidable Fenerbahçe came to town.
Although Advocaat named a starting XI that included Stefan Klos, Fernando Ricksen, Arthur Numan, and Tore Andre Flo, the Dutchman was deprived of the services of Barry Ferguson, Claudio Reyna, Lorenzo Amoruso and Ronald de Boer who were all injured. Michael Mols, still not fully recovered from the knee injury he had sustained in Munich in 1999, was named as one of the substitutes.
The home side would enjoy the best of the chances in the first 45 minutes, but Vidmar, Konterman and McCann were denied by saves from the Fenerbahçe goalkeeper, Rustu Receber. But those timely interventions weren’t the most notable contribution that Receber made on the night.
Advocaat took of Caniggia at half time and sent on Mols, but his involvement would last a mere 13 minutes. The Dutch forward got himself into a tangle with Samuel Johnston and appeared to aim a kick at the Ghanaian defender. That kickstarted a midfield melee that witnessed Receber running from his goals to add his tuppence worth. That amounted to right hander that sent Mols sprawling to the turf, but when the dust settled, the goalkeeper and his team mate were yellow carded while Mols was ordered off. There is little doubt that Mols deserved to be dismissed, but Receber should have joined him, and the leniency of the Swiss referee proved to be a pivotal moment in the tie.
The Turkish goalkeeper defied Scott Wilson later in the game and proved hard to beat when the teams met again in Istanbul two weeks later. A world-famous referee would have a part to play in the outcome of that match to mind you.
Rangers played twice in between the two legs. Two goals from Bert Konterman and strikes from Laptapy and Flo earned a 4-1 win over Dunfermline Athletic at East End Park before Hibernian earned a 2-2 draw at Ibrox.
Advocaat’s starting XI showed changes from the one that had taken to the field at Ibrox. Amoruso, de Boer and Reyna were back from injury, while Andrei Kanchelskis, who had fallen out of favour, was included too. Claudio Caniggia dropped to the bench alongside Stephen Hughes, while Neil McCann and Craig Moore were injured.
The atmosphere in the Sukru Saracoglu Stadyumu lived up to its reputation for hostility. In an environment like that it is best to nullify the noise as quickly as possible and try to turn the tide against the home side. To do that, Rangers would need to ensure they didn’t lose an early goal. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what they did.
Samuel Johnston – he who had been involved in the fracas with Mols at Ibrox – was fouled from behind by Scott Wilson, and the Israeli striker Haim Revivo stepped forward and curled the free kick beyond Stefan Klos. Only three minutes of the 90 had elapsed.
Surprisingly, after scoring early Fenerbahçe chose to retreat and hit Rangers on the break. That gave the visitors some hope that they could grab an all-important ‘away’ goal. But they found Receber as hard to beat as he had been at Ibrox. The Turk denied de Boer, Wilson and Ricksen, but just when it looked like Rangers were in the ascendancy, Fenerbahçe scored again.
There were 19 minutes left to play when Serhat Akin, who had replaced the scorer of the first goal, Revivo, worked a one-two that opened the Rangers defence before rifling a shot beyond Klos.
Rangers’ hopes of progression were flatlining, but they were resuscitated just two minutes later when Ricksen’s shot took a wicked deflection that deceived Receber. And nine minutes later, they should have been given the opportunity to level the scores. Caniggia worked his way into the box and was fouled. It looked a cast iron penalty kick, but Pierluigi Collina, allegedly the best referee in the world, thought otherwise.
It would prove therefore to be another one of those ‘what might have been tales’ for Rangers in Europe and that was summed up perfectly when in the dying embers of the match, Bert Konterman fizzed in a shot from range that beat Receber but was cleared off the line by Umit Ozat.
Elimination from the Champions League saw Rangers parachute into the UEFA Cup, and by the time they played Feyenoord in their last 16 tie, they were under new management. In December 2001, Dick Advocaat assumed the role of Director of Football and Alex McLeish took over as manager. One of Advocaat’s last acts as manager was to guide his side to victory over Paris Saint Germain, Rangers winning on penalties after the sides had battled out two 0-0 draws.
A 1-1 draw at Ibrox followed by a 3-2 defeat at De Kuip in Rotterdam saw Rangers knocked out of Europe, but domestically, McLeish had steadied a listing ship and had set it on a course for silverware.
Although they were out of contention for the title – Celtic eventually finished 18 points better off – Rangers won 14 of the 20 league matches McLeish was in charge of. Only one of the other six was lost, a 2-1 defeat against Livingston in April. The two Old Firm league fixtures were drawn and a blast from the boot of Bert Konterman ensured that Celtic were bounced out of the League Cup in the semi-final. Ayr United were then comfortably beaten 4-0 in the Final.
But the piece de resistance of the season came in the final game. Rangers faced Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final and came from behind twice to win by three goals to two. The last gasp goal from Peter Lovenkrands – a diving header from a sumptuous Neil McCann cross – is one of the most iconic in the recent history of Rangers.
Those two pieces of silverware provided the launchpad for the domestic Treble that followed in season 2002/03, and one of the main protagonists in that campaign was Michael Mols.
The red card against Fenerbahçe had been the latest in a long line of setbacks Mols had suffered after that fateful night in Munich. After joining Rangers, he had netted nine goals in nine league games, including four in one match against Motherwell. No defender could thwart him after he had executed his trademark turn, but when he landed awkwardly when hurdling a challenge from Oliver Kahn, his season shuddered to a halt.
Over the next two seasons, Mols featured in only 28 of the 76 league games Rangers played. He found the net only seven times, albeit one of them came in an enthralling 5-1 win over Celtic at Ibrox.
But he was back at his best in season 2002/03.
After only featuring in one of the opening 10 league games, Mols failed to appear in only two of the remaining 28. He scored 13 league goals in a campaign that saw the goalscoring mantle in the title race shared between himself, Barry Ferguson (16), Ronald de Boer (15) and Shota Arveladze (15).
Mols scored one of the six goals against Dunfermline Athletic on the thrilling final day shoot out for the title and netted once in the run to the Scottish Cup Final. That came when Rangers edged out Motherwell by the odd goal in seven in the semi-finals.
Mols’s final season as a Rangers player was a disappointing one. Rangers surrendered all three major trophies in a dire and dreadful campaign, one of the poorest for a long time. Despite missing only two league matches, Mols netted just nine times. He did score in the Champions League group stages – a consolation goal in a 3-1 home defeat against Panathinaikos – but he was ordered off in what would be his last league appearance in a Rangers jersey, a 3-2 win over Dunfermline Athletic at East End Park. He was the Rangers captain that afternoon.
Michael Mols scored 59 goals in 176 appearances for Rangers. He won two league titles, one Scottish Cup and one League Cup. His terrific turn will be forever remembered by those who witnessed it, but we should have seen more often than we did. The injury sustained in Munich robbed Rangers and their supporters of the services of a player who could have rivalled Brian Laudrup as the club’s finest ever overseas player. He really was that good.