From: eftv20@castle.ed.ac.uk (G C Stewart)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: Scottish European prospects
Date: 10 Oct 92 18:11:28 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

A quick summary of my first round forecasts for the Scottish clubs....

European Cup, Rangers v Lyngby

my forecast   2-0, 1-1
actual        2-0, 1-0

Well I seem to know my Huns fairly well, though Durrant's goal in the
second leg should not have counted as he was offside. Rangers may be
fooled into believing they're going places after this tie, but Lyngby
gave them a few scary moments in the 1st leg. 

European Cup Winners' Cup, Airdrieonians v Sparta Prague

my forecast  0-1, 0-4
actual       0-1, 1-2

No doubt about the classier side, but Airdrie could have done with a bit
more of a beating to show that their style should not be able to
succeed. In the end they did better than expected, perhaps since they
knew they would go out and played relaxed football.
Here's a trivia question - who were the last Scottish side to get past
the first round of the ECWC ? (Answer at end of message)

UEFA Cup, Slavia Prague v Heart of Midlothian

my forecast  2-1, 1-3
actual       1-0, 2-4

Well the aggregate socre was right but Jordan's Jambos rode their luck
more than slightly in the first leg and scored the tie winning goal when
Slavia were down to 10 men. But well done the Hearts and their goals
were excellent.

Hibernian v Anderlecht

my forecast  0-0, 0-3
actual       2-2, 1-1

Almost a repeat of Celtic v Ajax in 1982, but while Hibs battled very
well they were certainly inferior to Anderlecht. Nonetheless an
excellent display by the Hi-Bees but they'll be hard pressed to get back
into Europe next season.

1F.C. Koln v Celtic Glasgow

my forecast  1-1, 1-3
actual       2-0, 0-3

Celtic stormed back superbly after an abismal first leg showing. In my 
forecast I under-estimated the ability of the men in Green and White to
do things the hard way. Still their second leg win was more than
deserved and evoked memories of the spectacular European displays of 
20 years ago and beyond (well not quite, I'm not old enough to remember
them :-)).

Prospects for the second round

European Cup 

Rangers Glasgow v Leeds United

A question - are Leeds referred to as United Leeds on the continent?
These two met before in the late 1960's and Leeds triumphed 2-0 on
aggregate, and this is the third time that Scottish and English clubs
have met in the European Cup. In 1970, Celtic played Leeds in the 
semi-finals and won 3-1 on aggregate - the second leg at Hampden park
was attended by 130,000 - a record for European competition. In 1980,
a young Aberdeen side were hammered 5-0 by Liverpool at their peak.

On this game, well it may be Scotland v England but the vast majority
of Scottish neutrals will be cheering for Leeds (including myself).
However while most will tip Leeds I think this will be an extremely
close tie, played under enormous pressure, and as such goals will be
few. In fact I think it could go all the way to penalties and then I
think Rangers would have the edge.
forecast - 1-1, 1-1. Rangers to win on penalties (but I hope not! :-))

UEFA Cup

Hearts v Standard Luik or Liege

Just doing my politically correct bit. I saw one of the Liege grounds
from the road on the way to Cologne. Is it FC Liege's ground or
Standard's ? Maybe you could answer Donie. Standard were Hearts first
ever European opponents in the 1950's and they won easily. I always
associate Belgian sides as being strong away from home and since that
also applies for Hearts this tie could have an upside-down look to it.
Overall though I think Hearts will be outclassed.
forecast - 1-3, 1-1

Borussia Dortmund v Celtic Glasgow

Dortmund and Celtic met in 1987 in the UEFA Cup, when the Germans with
Murdo McLeod their summer signing from Celtic, won 3-2 on aggregate.
A curious historical fact is that Rangers eliminated Dortmund from the
UEFA Cup in 1982, 2-0 on aggregate and in the next round, they met a
strong Cologne team and crashed out 6-3. Now Dortmund are the stronger 
side and I hope Celtic aren't going to complete the ten year symmetry.

There is always the risk of Celtic crumbling badly in the away leg.
Dortmund will put them under pressure and while Celtic's class players
will ensure a hard night for the Germans in Glasgow I can't see the 
defence holding out sufficiently for the tie to be recoverable.
forecast - 3-0, 0-2

  Oh dear, I've only got the Huns going through. I'd love to be 
completely wrong in all my forecasts.

   Yours
                     Gerry Stewart

ps the answer to my trivia question is...

Dundee United ( or is it United Dundee?), who reached the second
round in 1988, but then lost to Dinamo Bucharest or should that be
Unirea Tricolor?
Since then we've had,

1989, Celtic v Partizan Belgrade  5-4, 1-2
1990, Aberdeen v Legia Warsaw     0-0, 0-1
1991, Motherwell v Katowice       3-1, 0-2
and Airdrie this year