1960/61: Fiorentina hold off valiant Rangers
Thursday 1 June 1961
e-mail
Print
Digg
Save
Nándor Hidegkuti coached Fiorentina to success in the first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (©Getty Images)
Rangers FC 0-2 Fiorentina AC
Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow
Fiorentina AC 2-1 Rangers FC
Stadio Comunale, Florence
Ten national associations entered teams for the first ‘unofficial’ competition, in which France, Portugal and Spain were notable absentees. Rangers FC defeated English rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers AFC 3-1 on aggregate in a passionate all-British semi-final, while Fiorentina AC were getting the better of NK Dinamo Zagreb, winning 3-0 at home and losing 2-1 in Croatia.
Two-legged finale
In the final, played on a home-and-away basis, Fiorentina AC proved to be, balanced and experienced for their Scottish opponents. The brilliant Swedish winger, Kurt Hamrin, led the Rangers’ defence a merry dance during the first leg played before 80,000 fans at Ibrox Park and provided the ammunition for Luigi Milan to score for the Italian visitors after 12 and 88 minutes.
Luigi Milan breached the Rangers’ defence again after just 12 minutes of the return leg in Florence, watched by a crowd of 50,000. However, the Scots refused to give up and created chances before grabbing a deserved equaliser through Alexander Scott after 15 minutes. It was left to Hamrin to give Fiorentina victory with only four minutes remaining. He set off on a brilliant run and beat three men almost on the goal-line before hitting the net from an acute angle.
Thanks to their 4-1 aggregate victory, Fiorentina AC were crowned the inaugural winners of the as yet unofficial UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. Though there had been so few entries, those responsible for the launching of the competition were confident that they had a winner on their hands.
| Rangers FC - Fiorentina AC | 0 - 2 |
| Stage | Final |
| Half-Time | 0 - 1 |
| Date | 17.05.1961 |
| Kick-Off | 19:30:00 |
| Venue | Ibrox |
| City/Town | Glasgow |
| Attendance | 80,000 |
| Referee | STEINER Erich (AUT) |
| Match Report | |||
 | 12' | MILAN Luigi | |
| 88' | MILAN Luigi | |
| Team Line-Ups | |
| Rangers FC | Fiorentina AC |
| RITCHIE William (G) | ALBERTOSI Enrico (G) |
| SHEARER Robert | ROBOTTI Vincenzo |
| PATERSON Bill | ORZAN Alberto (C) |
| CALDOW Eric (C) | CASTELLETTI Sergio |
| DAVIS Harold | GONFIANTINI Piero |
| BAXTER Jim | RIMBALDO Claudio |
| WILSON Davie | HAMRIN Kurt |
| McMILLAN John | MICHELI Dante |
| SCOTT Alex | DA COSTA Dino |
| BRAND Ralph | MILAN Luigi |
| HUME Robert | PETRIS Gianfranco |
| Head Coach | |
| SYMON Scott | HIDEGKUTI Nándor |
| Fiorentina AC - Rangers FC | 2 - 1 |
| Stage | Final |
| Half-Time | 1 - 1 |
| Date | 27.05.1961 |
| Kick-Off | 15:30:00 |
| Venue | Comunale |
| City/Town | Florence |
| Attendance | 50,000 |
| Referee | HERNADY Vilmos (HUN) |
| Match Report | |||||
| 12' | MILAN Luigi | |||
| 15' | SCOTT Alex | |||
| 86' | HAMRIN Kurt | |||
| Team Line-Ups | |
| Fiorentina AC | Rangers FC |
| ALBERTOSI Enrico (G) | RITCHIE William (G) |
| ROBOTTI Vincenzo | SHEARER Robert |
| ORZAN Alberto (C) | PATERSON Bill |
| CASTELLETTI Sergio | CALDOW Eric (C) |
| GONFIANTINI Piero | DAVIS Harold |
| RIMBALDO Claudio | BAXTER Jim |
| HAMRIN Kurt | SCOTT Alex |
| MICHELI Dante | McMILLAN John |
| DA COSTA Dino | MILLAR James |
| MILAN Luigi | BRAND Ralph |
| PETRIS Gianfranco | WILSON Davie |
| Head Coach | |
| HIDEGKUTI Nándor | SYMON Scott |
©uefa.com 1998-2009. All rights reserved.
