CLAUDIO REYNA admits he still gets goosebumps thinking about his famous Champions League strike against Parma despite it being over 20 years since the memorable victory.
The American, who was capped over 112 times for his country, spent two years at Ibrox under Dick Advocaat and notably scored past Gianluigi Buffon to knock UEFA Cup holders Parma out of Europe in 1999.
Reyna is currently working as a sporting director for Austin FC in the MLS, but the 46-year-old admits he still thinks about his crucial European strike on a daily basis.
Asked if fans still remind him about the goal, he said: “Yeah all the time.
“The Rangers supporters watch every single game, you remember those moments, if you were inside Ibrox.
“I remember the noise level that day and I will never forget it, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.
“Yeah they still talk about it, it was a special moment we were competing against the best players, the best teams in Europe and they haven’t had that for quite some time.
“I run into fans and they say I was 15-years-old at that game, I remember watching you scoring that goal, that is certainly pretty cool.
“It was an amazing tie for us to beat them and he [Buffon] is one of the few players who is still playing who I can tell my kids I played against.
“I’m glad he is delaying his retirement because he is still someone I can say I played against.”
Reyna made the switch to Glasgow from Bayer Leverkusen in 1999, following a loan stint with Wolfsburg.
After two years in Glasgow, where he scored 13 goals, Reyna moved down south to Sunderland where he fulfilled a dream of playing in the Premier League.
Despite achieving his goal, the midfielder admits it was a tough decision to leave Rangers and miss out on the hostility of one of the biggest derbies in world football.
He continued: “The fans are as good as any in the world and Glasgow is one of our favourite places we have ever lived, beautiful people.
“It is intense when you play and you better win and it is intense obviously within Glasgow, between the Old Firm it is the best derby, the most heated derby that you can ever play in so it was always special to be a part of that.
“There’s a different feeling in the week leading up to the game, just in the locker room that you can just sense every Old Firm game is different leading up to it and what it means to the staff and the people around the city.
“The news, the media starts following and it just starts bubbling up earlier and you can feel it and you can hear it everywhere.
“The game is 100 miles per hour, there’s not the best football played, you have very little time on the ball and again it comes and goes so fast.
“My memories of the games are like it was over before it felt like it started.
“The intensity of the tackles, you can’t pull out of any tackle and it is really special.
“The difference in advantage and disadvantage in playing home and away is amazing and again it means so much when you pull up to the stadium.
“You feel it when you roll up to Ibrox, that intensity of your supporters and what it means to them.
“You obviously then see it at Parkhead when you come as an away player, all those memories a player never forgets and of course the battles on the field are really special.”
On his time at Rangers Reyna added: “It was a great opportunity, a huge club.
“I was playing with Brian O’Neill at Wolfsburg, a Scottish former teammate who came through Celtic’s academy.
“We were really close friends and he told me do you know how big of a club they are?
“Everything about it, the manager Dick Advocaat called me, he was pretty straightforward and to the point as coach Advocaat is.
“That meant a lot to me that he called me and he wanted me, so for me it was going to be really difficult because it was a really strong team.
“I felt it was my next step and opportunity to play in the Champions League and I did and it was amazing times, with great friends and teammates.
“I was really happy at Rangers there was a commitment to continue to compete at a high level and they continued to after I left but at the end it was just the lure of the Premier League.”
Claudio Reyna was speaking to Gareth Wheeler on the INSIDE THE GAME podcast.
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