Rangers' Smith rolls back years with Bursaspor rematch

Rangers FC manager Walter Smith will turn back the clock 36 years when he renews acquaintance with the first team he ever came up against in European competition, Bursaspor.

• Smith was a 26-year-old defender at Dundee United FC when his side lost 1-0 to Bursaspor in a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round second leg on 6 November 1974. He has not encountered any team from Turkey since but finally gets the chance to make amends as his Rangers outfit welcome the Turkish titleholders to Ibrox for the clubs' maiden meeting.

• While the Scottish champions earned a creditable goalless draw at Manchester United FC in their first fixture, Bursaspor were overwhelmed at home by Valencia CF, losing 4-0.

Match background
• In last season's UEFA Champions League, Rangers finished with the worst home record in the group stage after recording three defeats and conceding ten goals at Ibrox.

• They have failed to win in their last six European home games, scoring just twice.

• Rangers' home record against Turkish opposition is one win and two draws from three matches.

• The Scottish champions first met opponents from Turkey in the 1973/74 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round, beating MKE Ankaragücü 4-0 at home and 2-0 away.

• Against Galatasaray AŞ in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League group stage they lost 3-2 away then drew 0-0 at Ibrox, and against Fenerbahçe SK in the competition's 2001/02 third qualifying round they had another home stalemate followed by a 2-1 defeat in Istanbul.

• Kenny Miller was an unused substitute for both those goalless draws in Glasgow.

• Bursapor's only past experience of Scottish opposition came with that aforementioned defeat of Dundee United in the 1974/75 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round. The team from Bursa earned a 0-0 draw at Tannadice before Vahit Doğan's tenth-minute goal secured a 1-0 home success and passage to the quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual winners FC Dynamo Kyiv.

• Excluding their 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup campaign, Bursapor have not won a European tie since beating Dundee United.

• No Turkish club team has ever won in Scotland, although five previous visits did produce four draws.

Team ties
• Smith, who played 76 minutes of Dundee United's 1974 defeat in Bursa, was not the only player involved that day with a future Rangers connection. Andy Gray, who played for the Ibrox club in 1988/89, also featured in the tie.

• Bursapor coach Ertuğrul Sağlam has never competed against a Scottish side and has made only one previous visit to Britain in UEFA club competition, as coach of the Beşiktaş JK team beaten 8-0 by Liverpool FC in the UEFA Champions League in 2007/08. Defender Ali Tandoğan was in the Beşiktaş lineup at Anfield.

• Milan Stepanov sat on the bench for FC Porto when they eliminated Manchester United from the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League. Smith was on the United bench as assistant manager.

• Ivan Ergić played against Celtic FC for FC Basel 1893 in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, participating in a 3-1 reverse in Glasgow and a 2-0 win in Switzerland that earned his team victory on away goals.