WHEN we get to this week of the year, people always remind me of Barcelona and say ‘do you realise it was so many years since you won the Cup Winners’ Cup?’.

Of course I do. I will always remember May 24, 1972 for the rest of my life. Every time that date comes around, it just brings back fantastic memories.

I will never forget the day of the game. Colin Jackson was the one doubt for us, he had been injured for a few weeks, and he failed a fitness test in the morning.

I can still remember Willie Waddell and Jock Wallace coming into my room. We were just going for an afternoon sleep before the game and they said that Bomber had failed his fitness test and that I was in, so I had to get my mind on the game.

Of course, you don’t sleep at all. You are lying in your bed and you are dreaming. This was the dream I had since I made my debut against Cowdenbeath.

It was a European final, a chance for history. Rangers had some great sides in the past, but none of them had won a European trophy.

Sometimes your dreams do come true, and that day they certainly did. Nearly 50 years on, it is still a special feeling.

Throughout the tournament, Davie Smith had played with Colin Jackson or Ronne McKinnon or it was Bomber and Ronnie.

That night, it was myself and Davie and I thought he was the Man of the Match. He was fantastic and I still remember him talking me through the whole game.

I was nervous. But his great words to me were ‘just go for everything in the air or on the ground. If you lose it, I am at your back’.

If you are a young centre-half and you hear that from someone like Dave Smith, it gives you so much confidence. I was able to do that throughout the game.

Moscow never played anyone through the middle because they knew that Sandy Jardine and Willie Mathieson were attacking full-backs that loved to get forward. They played two wide men on them to stop them getting up the park.

But that allowed Davie and myself to get forward as well and he set up a couple of chances. I had a couple of shots on goal as well, and that was from centre-half.

It was unbelievable. It is a day that always sticks in my mind and will do until the day I die. It will never be forgotten.