Sir Alex Ferguson given lifetime membership by Eintracht Frankfurt

Football Mad -

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been given a lifetime membership by Eintracht Frankfurt due to his links to the Bundesliga club.

Ferguson scored a hat-trick against Frankfurt in his first game for Rangers, a pre-season friendly in 1967 which the Scottish giants won 5-3.

The 82-year-old was also a spectator at Ibrox when the two sides met in the semi-finals of the European Cup seven years earlier, the German club winning the second leg 6-3 to complete a 12-4 victory on aggregate.

“That was unbelievable,” Ferguson recalled in an interview published on Frankfurt’s website.

“In the first leg, Frankfurt beat Rangers 6-1. I was at the second leg when Eintracht came to Ibrox with 70,000 spectators.

“Of course we felt hopeful and told ourselves that Rangers could come back. In the end they lost again by six goals.

“I was a Rangers fan and only lived about 200 metres from Ibrox. I also attended the final (against Real Madrid at Hampden Park) and hoped Frankfurt would win as they had beaten Rangers.

“At the time I was 17 years old and played for Queens Park FC from Glasgow. It was a great game. (Richard) Kress scored the first goal. We said to ourselves, ‘wow, a great German team’.

“But then there were (Ferenc) Puskas, (Alfredo) Di Stefano and (Paco) Gento. I don’t think there will ever be another team as charismatic as the Real Madrid team at the time.

Richard Kress scored for Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup final against Real Madrid at Hampden Park (PA Archive)

“Puskas scored four goals and Di Stefano three. They were fantastic players and the 7-3 win was an incredible game. There was no shame in losing this game. Frankfurt had proven itself in the semi-final against Rangers.”

Scotland will face Germany in the group stages of this summer’s European Championship and Ferguson was jokingly asked if the hosts had “an outside chance” of beating Steve Clarke’s side.

“No chance,” Ferguson said with a laugh. “Scotland isn’t that bad, you know. They have good midfielders, two good full-backs. There have only been difficulties in the striker position in recent years.”