RANGERS agreed to a replay of their famous European Cup-Winners’ Cup triumph 45 years ago after a pitch invasion.

The sensational claim comes from Dynamo Moscow legend Anatoly Baidachny.

The Ibrox side lifted the 1972 trophy and became legends when they beat the Russian dark horses in Barcelona.

However, the 3-2 victory was marred by a mass pitch invasion and battles with the Spanish police leading to captain John Greig getting the trophy presented to him inside the Nou Camp.

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The Russians protested about the pitch invasion to UEFA and demanded a replay of the Final, but the result stood after an enquiry, although Rangers were banned from European competition for two years, later reduced to one year.

But almost 45 years later to the day of the Final, Dynamo legend Baidachny, now 64, has claimed that Rangers accepted responsibility for the trouble, in an interview in a Russian publication.

And they even agreed to play a replay of the game in Rome.

Baidachny, who later went on to manage Belarus and Dinamo Minsk, said: “We proposed a replay of the game, on October 3, 1972, in Rome.

“And the Scots agreed to it because they were going to lose a lot of money with their European ban.

“But as usual politics prevailed. UEFA couldn’t be seen to let the Russians win.

“Everyone remembers what happened after the game, but people forget the Rangers fans invaded the pitch five times. They invaded the pitch for the first time at 1-0.

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“Their fans all had mad eyes, it was a scary sight. They tried to set fire to the stadium. They fought with the police and there was casualties.

“When they ran onto the park at the end of the match, they tried to rip the shirts of us. I just ran until I got back to the dressing room.

“You have to remember back then everything was against the Russians. Our ‘supporters’ amounted to eight people from the Soviet Trade Company in the entire stadium, which was full of Scots. Our people were not allowed abroad.

“One of our players, Aleksandr Makhovikov, was absolutely taken out by a Rangers player on the wing. No whistle. From that, Rangers went up and scored.

“We went home and no one came to meet us. We were forgotten. If you lost in the old Soviet Union you were regarded as an enemy of the people. 

“We did get some small financial reward for reaching the Final. It was enough to buy me a Grundig tape recorder.”