Rangers v Eintracht Frankfurt: a friendly rivalry forged in goals

Ah, the agony of choice. Would you prefer Real Madrid or Barcelona as your team’s opponents in the European Cup final? It was a question many Rangers fans were asking after their team avoided both the Spanish giants in the draw for the European Cup in 1960. So hypothetical would that question turn out to be, those same fans might as well have been pondering whether Alfredo Di Stéfano or László Kubala would make the better close-season signing for their club.

The omens that brought about such delusions during the balmy Glaswegian spring of 1960 were, admittedly, encouraging. By powering past the champions of Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Holland, Rangers had advanced to the sharp end of Europe’s premier tournament and now had the final in clear sight. The final was scheduled to be played in Glasgow, at Hampden Park, which would give them home advantage. The belief that a grand, celestial conspiracy was working in Rangers’ favour blossomed among supporters and the typically compliant west of Scotland media alike.

Drawing the unheralded West German champions Eintracht Frankfurt only encouraged this reckless thinking. A representative Frankfurt XI had visited London in the Inter-City Fairs Cup in 1956 and acquitted themselves well, but West German teams had made little impact in the early years of European competition. Frankfurt’s undistinguished path to the semi-finals did not suggest the trend would be reversed.

When Rangers manager Scott Symon asked: “Eintracht, who are they?” upon touchdown on German soil, it encapsulated the hubristic nature of Scottish over-confidence. What Symon and many Rangers fans failed to appreciate was the subtle difference between an easier draw and an easy draw. Frankfurt were undoubtedly the