Hosts dream of former glories

In these days of reduced ground capacities and an ever-growing clamour for tickets for the showpiece events, only a few thousand passionate Scottish fans will be among the 52,000 at Hampden Park for the final of the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid CF and Bayer 04 Leverkusen - and they will dream of the days when their own country was a power in the European game.

Hibernian success
When the European Champions Club' Cup was inaugurated in 1956, the Scottish Football Association showed great foresight in allowing Hibernian FC to take part in the tournament - at a time when the FA in England barred its clubs from entering. Hibs reached the semi-finals, losing 3-0 on aggregate to the Stade de Reims Champagne side that were beaten 4-3 by Madrid in the first European Cup final.

Celtic progress
For the next twenty years Scottish clubs regularly featured in the later stages of all European club competitions. Of course, the biggest clubs - Celtic FC and Rangers FC - were the most successful. In 1967 Celtic beat Internazionale FC to become the first British club to win the European Cup and they were in the final again in 1970, losing narrowly to Feyenoord. Celtic also reached the semi finals in 1972 and 1974, as well as the last four of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1966.

Impressive record
Rangers, meanwhile, were Cup Winners' Cup finalists in 1961, 1967 and 1972, losing to AC Fiorentina and FC Bayern München before beating Dinamo Moscow. The Ibrox team were also European Cup semi-finalists in 1965, and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now the UEFA Cup) semi-finalists in 1969. Nor were Glasgow's Old Firm alone in making an impression at this level. Kilmarnock FC reached the last four of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1967 and Dunfermline Athletic FC were Cup Winners' Cup semi-finalists in 1969.

Scottish resurgence
After 1972, something of a slump set in until Aberdeen FC, under Sir Alex Ferguson, beat Madrid to win the Cup Winners' Cup in 1983. A year later Dundee United FC lost by the odd goal in five to AS Roma in the European Cup semis. United were also unfortunate to lose 2-1 on aggregate to IFK Göteborg in the 1987 UEFA Cup final. Since then, Scottish teams have again slipped into the shadows, although in 1992/93, when the Champions League group stage followed two knockout rounds, Rangers were effectively semi-finalists, edged out by the tournament winners, Olympique de Marseille.

Great interest
The Bosman judgement and the explosion of TV revenues has been bad for Scottish clubs. Celtic and Rangers are among the best supported sides anywhere in Europe but their domestic TV audience is very constricted - Scotland's five million population is hardly more than half that of London - and the Glasgow pair have shown great interest in proposals for a Euro/Atlantic league composed of big clubs from similarly small countries.

Signs of revival
In fact, by UEFA measurements of attendances, annual turnover and European results, the Scottish Premier League is 13th from 51 - an even more notable achievement when the 'big five' of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are taken out of the equation. And there have been signs of revival this season, with Celtic beating AFC Ajax, Juventus FC, FC Porto and Rosenborg BK at home in the Champions League and only losing on penalty kicks to Spanish champions Valencia CF in the third round of the UEFA Cup. Rangers went further, losing narrowly in the fourth round to the eventual UEFA Cup winners, Feyenoord.

Cheering from the sidelines
So perhaps, despite the obstacles in their way, the Scots might yet be able once more to take on Europe and win - instead of cheering from the sidelines as hosts.