(In)Famous First Round Exists

While it's probably not going to help enormously, fans of Glasgow Rangers should contend themselves with the knowledge that pretty much every SPL team has had to suffer the indignity of going out in the first round of a European competition. In today's Meat Pie, Inside Left's guide to interesting but meaningless statistics, we try to ease the pain of the Rangers following as we highlight a few teams who did a lot worse in Europe.

And where better to begin than with Aberdeen, undoubtedly the team with the most European banana skin moments under their belt, having suffered a series of toe-curling defeats against teams that really shouldn't have stood a chance.  The Dons have a long track record in European competition, starting back in 1967 with an emphatic 14-1 aggregate victory over Iceland's KR Reykjavik in that years Cup Winners Cup. Conquerors of top brass European sides such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and SV Hamburg in later years, Aberdeen where once a team to be feared around Europe. Certainly when Irish part time side Bohemians where drawn against the Dons in the UEFA Cup in 2000, they probably didn't expect to progress. But Aberdeen where a fading force at the time, having finished bottom of the table the season before and manager Ebbe Skovdahl needed a decent cup run of some sort to get the supporters on his side. But, alas, it was not to be as the Dons suffered a humiliating 2-1 defeat in Dublin, a result they failed to overturn at Pittodrie two weeks later. Despite Bohemians helping the Dons as much as they could by scoring an own goal, the 2-2 final aggregate score meant the Dons crashed out on the away goals rule.

In the same way that Aberdeen fans celebrate the victories of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as their finest hours, so the fans of Skonto Riga go all teary-eyed when they recall the time their side knocked a former Cup Winners Cup winner out of the competition. It was in the 1993-94 UEFA Cup that the Latvians got their scalp, albeit on aggregate, but the 1-1 defeat was humiliating for the Dons. Considered the darkest night in Aberdeen's history at the time (before the Bohemians disaster that is), the defeat came at a bad time for Aberdeen and former legend Willie Miller, at the time in his second season in charge at the club.

In 1996, Barry Town, a minor Welsh side (no pun intended) travelled north to Pittodrie in the preliminary round of the 1996-97 UEFA Cup. As expected, Aberdeen won the first leg of the tie comfortably, emerging as 3-1 winners. The return leg then seemed a formality, but Aberdeen fans have learned to expect the unexpected and certainly the 3-3 draw said more about how bad Aberdeen where on the night than how good Barry Town where. The Dons progressed, but that second leg served as a reminder not to take the 'minnows' for granted.

Kilmarnock where dumped out of the UEFA Cup in the Qualifying stages back in 1997 by the sinisterly named SK Sigma Olomouck from the Czech Republic - Killie lost the tie 4-0 on aggregate. In 1997 they lost 4-2 on aggregate to French side OGC Nice in the first round of the Cup Winner's Cup, while in 2000, Bobby Williamson's men had placed themselves in the First round of the UEFA Cup by defeating Northern Irish side Glenavon, but an early exit from the competition came in the next round at the hands - or should that be feet - of Viking Stavanger (1-3).

In general, Scottish sides have not had a great track record against Scandinavian teams in Europe. Dunfermline's 2005-06 European run ended in the second qualifying stage against Iceland's FH Hafnarfjörður (4-3) and against Sweden's BK Häcken the following year (1-2). It was another Finish side, MyPa, that knocked both Dundee United and Motherwell out of Europe, though obviously at different times. First up, in the preliminary stage of the 1995-96 UEFA Cup Motherwell went out on the away goals rule (3-3), while in 2005 it was the turn of Dundee United at the expense of a costly away goal (2-2).

And speaking of Dundee United, the 17-0 aggregate victory over Andoran side CE Principat in the preliminary stage of the UEFA Cup in 1997 lulled the Terrors into a false sense of security. In the Qualifying round they came up against sterner opposition in the form of Turkish side Trabzonspor and failed to progress when Tommy McClean's men lost 2-1 over the two legs.

Gretna's one and only European game was against League of Ireland side Derry City. In an opening game that set the standard for their performances in the year to come, Gretna lost the first leg 5-1 and managed to get a 2-2 draw in the second leg, but the damage had been done and Gretna where out.

Lastly, a special mention must go out to Livingston. In September of 2002, Livingston played Austrian side SK Sturm Graz over two crazy legs. Livi lost the first game in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium by 5-2 and the return game in Scotland was lost by 3-4, but certainly the fourteen goal thriller is still much talked about down at the Almondvale.

So you see, Rangers are in good company. Looking at some of the results here, it almost makes that first round exit to Levski Sofia fourteen years ago seem not so bad, and even Celtic's disgraceful defeat to Artmedia Bratislava (Gordon Strachan would say of that defeat that he'll have the text "it's not as bad as that night in Bratislava" etched on his tombstone) seems tame compared to some of Aberdeen's disasters.

European Success

In all the negativity, it's easy to forget that in Scotland we have teams that have also performed valiantly on the European stage. We've mentioned Aberdeen of course, but don't forget that Celtic and Rangers are both winners of European silverware. Elsewhere, teams such as Dunfermline (Cup Winners Cup semi-finalists in 1969 when they lost to Slova Bratislava) and both Dundee (semi-finalists in the 63 European Cup, losing to AC Milan) and Dundee United (semi-finalists in the same competition in 1983, losing narrowly to Roma) have done the nation proud.

This year, we add another name to the eighteen teams that have represented Scotland in Europe - Queen of the South; with Scotland now 16th in the FIFA World rankings, there's certainly a lot to look forward to.