Rangers v Red Star: When Belgrade side routed Scots on way to greatest triumph

Ex-Real Madrid and Barcelona midfielder Robert Prosinecki was part of Red Star Belgrade's European Cup-winning side

Across the span of their 58-year European history against Rangers, the two-legged European Cup affair of 1990 will resonate most fondly with Red Star Belgrade.

Graced with world-class talent, the Serbian club were simply too good for Graeme Souness' men in a one-sided second-round European Cup tie.

Red Star would go on to lift club football's biggest prize six months later in their greatest-ever triumph and BBC Scotland takes a trip back 32 years.

Smith's ominous two-word report

After a resounding 10-0 first-round win over Maltese outfit Valletta, Rangers - off the back of a second consecutive league title - were paired with Yugoslav champions Red Star.

Long before the days of easily-accessible scouting software, Ibrox boss Souness sent assistant manager Walter Smith on a trip to Belgrade to get the lowdown on their opponents.

Rangers icon Smith returned to Glasgow with an ominous report. The feedback apparently contained just two words. The first? "We're". And the second? Unfortunately, we cannot repeat that - but you get the idea.

Smith's assessment was bang on the money. Red Star all but ended the tie as a contest after 73 minutes of the first leg when they went three goals up in front of a raucous crowd of 82,500 at the hostile Rajko Mitic Stadium.

John Brown diverted into his own net early on before the clinical Darko Pancev caressed in eight minutes after the irrepressible Robert Prosinecki had curled in a divine free-kick for the classy Belgrade side.

Reflecting on the encounter, Souness hailed the influence of "top player" Prosinecki, while ex-Rangers striker Ally McCoist recalled "one of the most intimidating places" he played in.

"Boy, do those supporters get behind their team," the Ibrox legend told BT Sport's Scottish Football Extra. "They were one of the best sides I've ever played against. They gave us a proper going over. That was a proper team."

Red Star would go on to win 4-1 on aggregate after Pancev, who netted a remarkable 45 goals in 48 games that campaign, scored his second of the tie in the return leg at Ibrox.

McCoist levelled on the night, but it was merely a consolation for the Ibrox club, who were brushed aside with ease.

Rangers striker Ally McCoist (left) scored a second-leg consolation, but the damage was already done by a classy Red Star side

Rangers rout sparks European triumph

Led by Ljupko Petrovic - who is still managing at the age of 74 at Vietnamese side Thanh Hoa - Red Star dismantled East Germany's Dynamo Dresden 5-1 across two legs in their European Cup quarter-final.

And West German opposition was dispatched in the semi, as Bayern Munich were beaten 2-1 on their own patch before a 2-2 draw in Belgrade.

Red Star, who netted 18 goals across four rounds leading up to the final, were kept at bay by French club Marseille in the final in Bari. But the Serbs kept their cool to score all five of their spot-kicks to win 5-3 on penalties.

A total of 15 of the 16 Red Star players in the squad for the final were from Yugoslavia - a nation just months away from the civil war that would tear it apart.

As well as ex-Real Madrid and Barcelona playmaker Prosinecki and former Inter Milan striker Pancev, they also had the likes of Sinisa Mihajlovic and Dejan Savicevic in their ranks.

Can 'versatile' Stankovic bring back glory days?

The man tasked with bringing back European glory to Red Star is current coach Dejan Stankovic.

As a player, Stankovic knows what it takes to succeed at the highest level, having been a part of Jose Mourinho's all-conquering Inter Milan side that won the Champions League in 2010.

The 43-year-old, who started his career at Red Star, also claimed six Serie A titles in Italy - five with Inter and one with Lazio.

Perhaps guiding the Belgrade club to a second European crown is a step too far, but the former Serbia midfielder - in his first job in management - might have been dreaming of a Europa League triumph before their first-leg humbling at Ibrox.

Since Stankovic's appointment in December 2019, the Red Star boss has gone on to win back-to-back league titles, losing just eight of his 104 games in charge.

"It's never easy for someone's first job to be such a big one," Serbian football journalist Nebojsa Markovic told BBC Scotland's The Nine. "But he [Stankovic] has done remarkably well.

"He won the league again last season and broke the record for the most points in a single season. More importantly, he has been doing really well in Europe. He's known for his tactics and he likes to have his sides very versatile."

The current Serbian champions have lost just once in the league this term, and lead city rivals Partizan on head-to-head record in their quest to win a fifth consecutive title.

Red Star have been in free-scoring form - netting 67 goals in just 27 league games while conceding just 15 times.

Red Star were reportedly privately pleased to be paired with the Scottish champions but received a rude awakening in the first leg of this season's tie as Giovanni van Bronckhorst's channelled the spirit of 1964 and 2007 - two years in which the Ibrox club have got the better of Red Star.