In the second edition of this new ‘On This Day’ Rangers feature we turn back the clock and delve into the archives to select a game from the past.
This time we rewind the clock to 2008, 18 years ago to when the Gers, managed by the late Walter Smith, travelled to the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, Italy to face Serie A club Fiorentina in the second leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final.
Meanwhile, domestic form was not the best as Rangers flew to Italy on the back of consecutive league defeats in the Old Firm.
This ultimately helped derail their title charge as Celtic would win the Scottish Premier League, as it was then called, by three points.
However, Smith’s Rangers had won the Scottish League Cup two months prior and would go on to also lift the Scottish Cup against Queen of the South.
Rangers’ journey to Florence started with the round of 32 against Panathinaikos after they were eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage.
That was followed by the round of 16 against Werder Bremen and the quarter-final two-leg meeting with Sporting CP.
Fiorentina 0-0 Rangers (2-4 on penalties) – 1 May 2008
The stalemate at Ibrox meant that it was all to play for in Italy.
However, both teams were at a deadlock with neither able to create the opener which led to a nail-biting penalty shootout.
The BBC Sport report includes the following:
Ten-man Rangers edged into the Uefa Cup final after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Fiorentina.
Daniel Cousin was sent off in extra time, but the tie ended goalless and Nacho Novo fired the winning penalty after Vieri drove his kick over.
And that took Rangers to their first European final since they lifted the Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1972.
The scene had been set for Rangers to follow Dick Advocaat to the City of Manchester Stadium on 14 May, the former Ibrox boss having earlier led Zenit St Petersburg to their first European final with a 5-1 aggregate hammering of Bayern Munich.
The Rangers squad on that day was:
Alexander, Broadfoot, Cuellar, Weir, Papac, Hemdani, Davis (Novo 81), Ferguson, Thomson, Whittaker, Darcheville (Cousin 65).
Subs Not Used: Graeme Smith, Buffel, Boyd, Dailly, Faye.
