1967 European Cup Winners' Cup final

Route to the final

Rangers

Rangers began their campaign by defeating Glentoran 5-1 on aggregate and were then drawn to play the defending champions Borussia Dortmund in the second round. Rangers won the tie 2-1 on aggregate. In the quarter-final Rangers defeated Zaragoza from Spain on the toss of a coin after the tie was drawn 2-2 after both legs and extra time had been played. Rangers reached their second European final after beating Slavia Sofia 2-0 on aggregate in the semi-final.

Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich defeated TJ Tatran Presov and Shamrock Rovers 4-3 on aggregate in the first and second rounds. Munich won 2-1 after extra time against Rapid Wien in the quarter-final before winning the semi-final against Standard liege 5-1 on aggregate to reach the final in Nuremberg.

Match

Background

This was the first European final Bayern Munich had contested and it was played in Nuremberg, Germany. Although several thousand Scots travelled for the match Bayern had the home support advantage. Bayern Munich's team contained arguably some of the best German footballers of all time including Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller.

Rangers were the first British club to play in a European final in 1961. Six days before the 1967 final Rangers rivals Celtic had won the European Cup in Lisbon and it was the first time two teams from the same city had contested the two main European finals. This achievement put additional pressure on Rangers. Rangers striker Alex Willoughby was left out of the team in favour of defender Roger Hynd, who had been promoted to the first team on account of his goalscoring feats in Rangers' second XI. Willoughby had been a prolific scorer for Rangers in the preceding months. Rangers' cause was not helped by their chairman John Lawrence describing Rangers' forward line as 'makeshift' (it included three half-backs).

Summary

Both teams' strength lay in their defence. Rangers dominated the first half while Bayern played stronger in the second. Roger Hynd who was traditionally a central defender played as a striker for Rangers and had a goal disallowed during the 90 minutes. Hynd also missed a good chance after being set up by Dave Smith. The match was goalless after 90 minutes and went into extra time. Bayern scored the only goal of the game when Franz Roth took advantage of hesitancy in the Rangers defence and lobbed Norrie Martin.

Match details

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References

References

1. "1966/67: Bayern exploit home advantage". Uefa.
2. "When Euro glory evaded Rangers". BBC Sport.
3. "1967 & all that". The Herald.
4. [http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/rangers/rangers_comment/13332239.RANGERS_IN_EUROPE_____Drama_and_controversy_on_road_to_1967_European_Cup_Winners__Cup_Final/ Evening Times Report]