Battle of Britain '92: Elland Road

'Leeds will reward their fans with a performance to crush Rangers,' in the second leg, wrote the Daily Star after United's first leg defeat in the European Cup at Ibrox. 'A display that will go down as one of the greatest European victories of all time.' In The Sun, John Sadler wrote that the 2-1 scoreline, 'didn't disguise the truth. That Rangers are no great side at all.'

The bravado was not coming from Leeds. £4 million of prize and sponsorship money was on offer to the team that made it through to the European Cup's new 'Champions League' group stages to play Milan, Marseille, PSV Eindhoven and the rest. The Rangers players were each on a £20,000 bonus for qualifying, but Howard Wilkinson wasn't thinking that far ahead. "I didn't even know how many teams were in the mini league until I read the papers," he said. "I was too scared to think about it."

Since the first leg Leeds had lost 2-1 at Queens Park Rangers and drawn 2-2 at home with Coventry City, and Wilkinson would not deny that his team was struggling to defend. His problems increased after David Batty damaged his ankle ligaments against Coventry and became a doubt for the 'Battle of Britain' decider at Elland Road. A 1-0 win would put Leeds through on away goals, but the chances of keeping a clean sheet were slim enough with Batty protecting the back four, never mind without. "If Batty is not fit, the team will be different and it will play differently," said Wilkinson. "There is not much you can do to reduce the swelling," he added, "other than to use drugs and hope he doesn't get tested."

That option was disregarded and Batty didn't make it, but the midfield problems didn't end there. As often happened when Leeds were involved in big games around this time, the tabloids filled up with speculation about the club's best players. Gary McAllister was in the last year of his contract, and might seek European football on his own in 1993; David Rocastle had only started one game since signing in the summer, and Brian Clough wanted him to save Nottingham Forest's season. "I am aware that Rocastle might be available," said Clough. "The problem is his price, because I won't give Leeds the £2 million they paid Arsenal." Rocastle had a different perspective, but only after the game against Rangers: "I just wish people from outside Elland Road would stop trying to get me out of the club after just a few months, and let me get on with trying to make a career at Leeds."

Rocastle got his second start against Rangers, taking over from Batty in the only change from the first leg; Chris Fairclough continued at right-back. There was another repetition from the first leg at the start of the game. At Ibrox Gary McAllister had silenced the home-only crowd by scoring a stunning volley in Leeds' first attack, and Rangers captain Richard Gough said before the second leg, "I would love to see how Leeds would handle the situation if we scored in the first minute as they did at Ibrox." They took until the third minute, when Ian Durrant headed on towards the corner of the penalty area. Jon Newsome watched Mark Hateley approach the dropping ball then volley it so hard on the turn that, as the ball flew past him into the top corner, John Lukic fell backward as if he'd been shot. Lukic had punched the ball into his own net at Ibrox, and there were murmurs about him being beaten at his near post here; but murmurs were all you could hear from the home-only crowd at Elland Road. Most people were looking at Hateley's technique, and wondering how Leeds would come back from this.

From only needing a 1-0 win to go through, now Leeds had to score twice to stay in the tie and three times to go through, all while not conceding. Perhaps there was a benefit in playing without Batty, as Rocastle raided much further forward, alternating attacks with McAllister, but Leeds soon settled into a different and unusual formation. Gary Speed came into the middle to do Batty's job alongside McAllister, Rocastle went wide right, and Gordon Strachan played wide left. A team that had been built around its midfield was now relying on confused foundations.