Red Devil Fergie makes his return to Rangers

Alex Ferguson made his long-awaited return to Scotland with his all-powerful Manchester United team.

That long-awaited comeback finally arrived in tonight’s intriguing ‘Battle of Britain’ Champions League showdown with Rangers – the team he played for in the 1960s and who are managed by Alex McLeish, a star of the Aberdeen side Ferguson steered to success against the odds in the 1980s.

United arrived at Ibrox as the third-placed team in the group.

Rangers were the leaders thanks to a home win over Stuttgart, who beat United in Germany while the Scots were drawing with Panathinaikos in Athens.

Ferguson was able to name a starting line-up bristling with Champions League experience – Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes all having played at least 50 times each in the competition and Ruud van Nistelrooy the second-highest scorer with 31 goals.

Pre-match doubt Quinton Fortune was able to start – with Nicky Butt, Cristiano Ronaldo and new Scotland hero Darren Fletcher named among the substitutes.

Rangers were denied one of their two Champions League winners – Ronald de Boer - through injury.

But the other, Stefan Klos, took his usual place in goal.

McLeish felt the need to make changes after an Ibrox Old Firm defeat and failure to win at Motherwell since the draw in Greece, and the Italian Paolo Vanoli was the man who benefited.

Vanoli, a UEFA Cup winner with Parma, came in for Emerson with the Brazilian dropping down to the bench.

This was the first competitive meeting between the two sides, with Rangers once again starting without a single Scot.