Anderlecht vs Scottish sides, a story by Andrew Boyd

For the second part of our Belgian sides that have faced Scottish opposition in European Cup competitions I guess R.S.C. Anderlecht are as good a choice as any. Unlike Standard Liege the record for Anderlecht against Scottish sides is not so good, in six meetings they have progressed to the next round of competition only twice. As an introduction to Anderlecht it is worth a mention that they are the only side to have scored and conceeded 10 goals in a single match in the Champions Cup, and these happened 10 years apart! Firstly in the 1956 preliminary round Manchester United beat Anderlecht 10-0 (after winning 0-2 in Brussels), then in the 1966 1st round Anderlecht beat FC Haka (Finland) 1-10 away before winning 2-0 at home. Anderlecht have also reached the quarter-final stage of European competitions in four consecutive seasons, 1974-75 Champions Cup followed by 3 Cup-Winners Cup finals. During this period they also won 2 Super Cup finals.

The Scottish opposition to Anderlecht starts in the 1959-60 Champions Cup with Rangers. On September 16th 1959 Rangers beat Anderlecht 5-2 at Ibrox with the goals coming from Millar, Scott, Matthew (penalty), Baird 2 (1 penalty) with Stockman and de Waele scoring for Anderlecht. The purple and whites had a player wearing spectacles - Armand Joseph Jurion - who is reported to have kicked a Rangers player, Davis, who was lying on the ground. Davis then chased "Jef" for a short distance before stopping with laughter. There are no reports of anything similar happening in the 2nd game at the Parc Astrid which Rangers won 0-2 with goals from Matthew and McMillan. Rangers then progressed to the semi-final where they were defeated 4-12 on aggregate by Eintracht Frankfurt, who then lost 3-7 to Real Madrid in the final at Hampden Park, Glasgow!

The next Scottish opponents for Anderlecht were Dundee F.C. in the 1962-63 Champions Cup quarter-final. On route to this meeting Dundee had beaten 1FC Koln 8-1 at home, before losing 4-0 away, in the preliminary round. At the same stage Anderlecht had beaten Real Madrid 4-3 on aggregate, drawing 3-3 away before winning their first ever European match 1-0 with a goal from "Jef". In the next round both teams progressed with 4-2 aggregate wins over Sporting Club Portugal (Dundee) and CSKA Sofia (Anderlecht). The first game was played at the Heysel Stadium in front of a crowd of 60,000, with only around 100 from Dundee! It was the boys from Scotland that would celebrate this match as after just 60 seconds Gilzean scored from a Smith cross. Gilzean scored his second on the 20 minute mark. Anderlecht then pulled a goal back from a penalty after 36 minutes. Dundee added another, from Cousin, just after half-time and again, from Smith, on 71 minutes. On a heavy pitch Dundee had won 1-4. It is worth a mention that the Belgian supporters gave Dundee a standing ovation at the end of the match. After this match Gilzean required 6 stitches in a foot injury, these would be removed just prior to the home game. The return match at Dens Park on March 13th was watched by a crowd of 40,000. This time it was the purple and whites who appeared to have the desire to win and with 30 minutes of the match gone Stockman scored to give Anderlecht hope. Again though Dundee, and the heavy underfoot conditions, were to prove too much for Anderlecht. Cousin equalised on the evening after 78 minutes before Smith scored with 8 minutes remaining. Dundee had won through to a semi-final meeting with AC Milan where they lost 2-5 on aggregate. Milan then defeated Benfica 2-1 in the Wembley final.

At this point it is worth a slight move away from the Scottish connection to focus on Andelecht and the Internationals that played for them at this time. In a match against the Netherlands on September 30th 1964, a year and a half after the Dundee games, 11 players from Anderlecht were on the field at the same time. The team was - Trappeniers (a substitute for Delhasse of F.C. Liegeois), Heylens, Verbiest, Plaskie, Cornelis, Hanon, Jef, Stockman, Devrindt, Van Himst, Puis.

Next up from Scotland were Dunfermline Athletic, in the 1969-70 Fairs Cup, who were to become Anderlechts' first victims to the new 'away goals rule'. Having easily beaten Valur, 8-0 on aggregate, and Coleraine, 13-4, Anderlecht came against tougher opposition in 'The Pars'. Anderlecht took a slender 1-0 first leg win to the return at East End Park where, despite losing 3-2, they were to progress to the next round. The goals for Dunfermline were scored by McLean 2 and Mitchell, I have no record of the Anderlecht scorers. In the next round Anderlecht would again progress by the 'away goals rule' with another 3-3 aggregate. This time Newcastle United, the holders and conquerers of Dundee United, were the victims after losing 0-2 in Belgium and winning 3-1 at home. After losing 0-1 to Inter Milan at home Anderlecht then won 0-2 away to reach the final. In the 1st leg of the final, at the Heysel Stadium, Anderlecht led Arsenal 3-0 with 10 minutes remaining. Arsenal then scored a crucial goal that made the score 3-1 to Anderlecht. In the return match, at Highbury, Arsenal won 3-0 to win 4-3 on aggregate.

Before Anderlecht were to meet Scottish opposition again they would reach 4 consecutive European quarter-finals and win 2 Cup-Winners Cups and 2 Super Cups. Having defeated West Ham United in the 1975-76 Cup-Winners Cup final, Anderlecht then beat Bayern Munich in the Super Cup. They then lost to SV Hamburg in the 1976-77 Cup-Winners Cup final, before winning this competition again by beating Austria Vienna in the 1977-78 final. Liverpool were then beaten in the Super Cup. This now brings us to the meeting between Anderlecht and Dundee United in the 1979-80 UEFA Cup 1st round. With the 1st game on September 19th finishing goalless it was all to play for in the return. The Stade Emile Verse (Parc Astrid) was to witness one of the most spectacular goals to be scored for a Scottish side in European competitions. Frank Kopel scored a wonder goal with 10 minutes remaining to equalise a goal from Benny Nielsen. This was Uniteds' first goal in 4 European matches, but what a goal. This time it was the Scots who progressed through the 'away goals rule', this was to be the first time United had progressed in such a manner. Entrance to the game in Brussels would have cost £2 to stand and around £10 for the centre stand. A match programme for the game in Dundee cost 15 pence but for the return it cost 30f, roughly 50 pence. Some of the Anderlecht players that faced United include - Rensenbrink, Van Der Elst, Broos, Vercauteren, Haan, Van Binst and of course Nielsen.

Anderlecht would again win a European trophy, and appear in 2 finals, before meeting Scottish opposition again. The 1982-83 UEFA Cup was won against Benfica, 2-1 on aggregate with goals from Brylle and Lozano. The trophy was then surrendered to Tottenham Hotspur in a penalty shoot-out in the 1983-84 final. Tottenham won 4-3 on penalties after two 1-1 draws, Roberts equalising a Czerniatynski goal with only 6 minutes of the 2nd leg remaining. The 1989-90 Cup-Winners Cup was lost to Sampdoria 0-2 after extra time with both goals scored by Vialli.

Hibernian were the next Scottish opponents in the 1992-93 UEFA Cup and again the 'away goals rule' was to work in favour of the Belgians. After a 2-2 draw at Easter Road, with Hibs goals coming from Beaumont and McGinlay. The 2nd leg was drawn 1-1 (yes again 3-3!), with Jackson scoring for Hibs, in the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium. Anderlecht had progressed for only the second time against Scottish opposition and still had not "won" the tie.

The next meeting between Anderlecht and a side from Scotland would be in th Champions League group stages. Celtic were to travel to Brussels for the third game in the group on October 21st 2003. With both sides desperate for points a crowd of 21,835 crammed into the CVS Stadium to see an eventful encounter. Anderlecht were reduced to 10 men after 26 minutes, when De Boeck recieved his second yellow card, and Hartson had a goal ruled out for offside in 32 minutes. Despite several chances by both sides it is Anderlecht who take the advantage and score in 72 minutes, with Dindane getting the goal. In the return at Celtic Park, the next match in the group, a crowd of 59,057 watched Celtic win a match that would decide the placings of both sides in the group. Celtic beat Anderlecht 3-1 with goals from Larsson, Miller and Sutton with Dindane again scoring for the Belgians. The significance of this result is that the group finished with Celtic in third place with 7 points and a goal difference of +1, while Anderlecht finished fourth with 7 points and a goal difference of -1. Some of the Anderlecht players to face Celtic were Baseggio, Wilhelmsson, Kompany, Tihinen, Mornar, Hendrikx and Dindane.

It may just be a coincidence that once again we feature a side once managed by the legend that is Raymond Goethals. Other notable former managers include Paul Van Himst, Arie Haan, Hugo Broos and Franky Vercauteren.

Andrew Boyd