Take five: Scottish clubs against Finnish opponents in European competition

Adriano celebrates after equalising for MyPa at Tannadice in 2005.SNS Group

Celtic travel to face HJK Helsinki in the second leg of their third round Champions League qualifier.

Holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg Neil Lennon’s side remain favourites to progress to the next round of the competition, one stage away from a spot in the group stages.

Scottish sides have a good record against Finnish opponents, winning 11 of the 17 meetings and losing only three.

Here we take a look back at five memorable ties:

Motherwell

Opponents: MyPa Anjalankoski

Date: August 1995

Competition: UEFA Cup

Aggregate: 3-3 MyPa win on away goals

Having finished second to Rangers in the 1994/95 season, Motherwell’s reward was a place in the preliminary rounds of the UEFA Cup.

That season saw Celtic finish in fourth place, Raith Rovers win a spot in Europe while Dundee United were relegated.

The Steelmen were drawn against MyPa Anjalankoski with the first leg to be played at Fir Park. Shaun McSkimming, who joined the club from Kilmarnock the previous summer, opened the scoring after nine minutes and all looked rosy in the Lanarkshire garden.

That was until the Finns equalised four minutes later with Petri Tiainen giving MyPa a 2-1 half-time lead. Sami Mahlio added another after the break to give Motherwell a two-goal deficit to chase in the return match.

And so under manager Alex McLeish the ‘Well squad travelled to Finland to try and win by three clear goals. They so nearly managed it.

Alex Burns hit the first goal after 28 minutes before Dougie Arnott scored with 69 minutes on the clock.

However it was not enough and ‘Well wouldn’t return to continental action until 2008.

Rangers

Opponents: FC Haka

Date: August 1999

Competition: Champions League

Aggregate: Rangers win 7-1

This was the second time Rangers had taken on Finnish opposition, having beaten Ilves Tampere 4-2 back in 1986.

Having won the title in Dick Advocaat’s first season in charge the ‘Gers took on Haka, who disappointingly produced no war dance at the start of the match.

The Scots cruised to a 4-1 victory in the first leg thanks to a double from summer signing Michael Mols. Lorenzo Amoruso opened the scoring before a brace from Mols left Rangers in control.

Jari Niemi pulled one back for Haka before they were undone by one of their own with Jonathan Johansson scoring number four with minutes to go.

Johansson was keen to impress when the teams met again at Ibrox, scoring either side of efforts from Rod Wallace and Gabriel Amato.

St Johnstone

Opponents: VPS Vaasa

Date: August 1999

Competition: UEFA Cup

Aggregate: St Johnstone win 3-1

While memories of this European run inevitably fall on their matches against AS Monaco, Saints got there by beating little-known VPS Vaasa in the previous round.

The Perth side pipped Kilmarnock to third place in the 1998/99 season with both earning a spot in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds.

Killie would beat KR Reykjavik before going out to Youri Djorkaeff’s Kaiserslautern. Meanwhile Saints started their journey with a 1-1 draw in Vaasa with Nathan Lowndes cancelling out the home team’s opener.

McDiarmid Park is a fortress for St Johnstone in Europe and they duly won the second leg 2-0 thanks to a late double from Portuguese forward Miguel Simao. The former Nacional forward came on as a substitute and netted in the 87th and 90th minute to send Saints through.

Then came their clash with French giants Monaco where the Perth men drew 3-3 at home after losing 3-0 in the principality.

Celtic

Opponents: HJK Helsinki

Date: August 2000

Competition: UEFA Cup

Aggregate: Celtic win 3-2 after extra-time

Having finished 21 points behind Rangers in the SPL, Celtic appointed Martin O’Neill to restore the club’s reputation at both home and abroad.

The club’s only previous experience against Finnish opponents came in 1973 when they thrashed TPS Turku 9-1 on aggregate.

It appeared the Hoops were in no trouble when a double from Henrik Larsson gave them a two-goal cushion at Celtic Park.

However Paulus Roiha had other ideas and he scored two goals of his own, forcing the tie into extra-time.

Having arrived from Chelsea in the summer Chris Sutton wasn’t ready for an early European exit so fired home an away goal after 108 minutes to earn a tie against Bordeaux.

There was to be more extra-time drama with the Glasgow side losing out thanks to a double from the femininely named Lillian Laslandes.

Dundee United

Opponents: MyPa Anjalankoski

Date: August 2005

Competition: UEFA Cup

Aggregate: 2-2 MyPa win on away goals

Pesky MyPa! Coming over here and kicking our teams out of Europe.

Just as they had done against Motherwell a decade ago, MyPa progressed by virtue of the away goals rule.

United qualified for Europe after losing the Scottish Cup final to Celtic but had endured a poor league season, culminating in Ian McCall’s dismissal as boss in March 2005.

After securing a 0-0 draw in Finland, the momentum appeared to be in United’s favour.

Mark Kerr gave the hosts the lead after 14 minutes and they were flying when Collin Samuel doubled that advantage before the half-hour mark.

Then it all went badly wrong as Brazilian striker Adriano pulled one back from the penalty spot with 18 minutes remaining.

MyPa levelled matters with ten minutes to go with Adriano once again getting on the score sheet to leave they Tayside club stunned.

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