Rangers manager Walter Smith has warned his players not to underestimate Werder Bremen's attacking threat after getting a first-hand look at their offensive prowess 25 years ago.
The Ibrox side will take a 2-0 lead into the UEFA Cup last-16 return leg but the Germans boast a history of stunning European comebacks which prompted the coining of the phrase 'Wunder of the Weser River'.
Smith was quick to give a first-hand account of such a wonder when asked whether he believed in miracles.
"We were pretty close to a miracle the last time I was in Bremen," he said.
"That was with Dundee United (in 1982/83). We beat them 2-1 in the first leg and managed a 1-1 draw here.
"We scored in the first minute and I think Bremen hit the bar three times and the post six times and we had the ball cleared off the line. That is close enough to a miracle for me."
At that time Smith worked as an assistant under Jim McLean while his coaching counterpart Thomas Schaaf was in action for Bremen.
He, too, remembers the UEFA Cup clash - but does not see any magic attached to it.
"It was a crazy match indeed," Schaaf recalled. "We could have scored seven, eight or nine goals but they prevailed.
"But if you speak about miracles you rather think of games where we were dead and came back, like from two or three goals down.
"Now we're trailing 2-0 and I think it's stupid to speak of a miracle if we succeed. All we have to do is put on a decent performance and we are very well capable of doing that."
While Rangers ride a 20-game unbeaten streak into the match, Bremen's confidence has been shattered by a 6-3 slaughtering at the hands of defending German champions Stuttgart less than 48 hours after the 2-0 defeat at Ibrox.
But Smith would not get carried away by the stunning result, insisting that fitness - or lack of - played a role in the trashing.
"I think it is unfair for a lot of teams in Germany - when they play in the UEFA Cup on Thursday they have to play again on Saturday," he said. "That is always a factor.
"We know we are in for a very tough evening defensively. We expect them to play very offensively because they are a very attacking-minded side."
Meanwhile, Werder defender Clemens Fritz expects the visitors to field an extremely defensive side.
"They played very defensively in the first leg and there's no reason to believe that will change this time out," the Germany international predicted.
"We definitely want to keep a clean sheet but even if we concede a goal we still have a chance of advancing. We can cope with the pressure very well."
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