'It's one I look back on fondly' - Falkirk manager John McGlynn reminisces about the night his Hearts team came agonisingly close to winning at Anfield

The date was August 30, 2012, the competition was the Europa League and the Gorgie side – who had lost the first leg 1-0 – stunned their English top flight hosts by taking the lead with just five minutes left in the second leg through David Templeton. But Hearts were broken three minutes later when Luis Suarez netted for Liverpool to seal a 2-1 aggregate victory for Brendan Rodgers’ side and deny the Jambos a spot in the Europa League group stages.

“That’s one I look back on fondly,” McGlynn told the Falkirk Herald. “One-nil up with just a few minutes to go then Suarez pops up.

"It was a very good night. You bump into Hearts fans who were at that game and they always mention it.

"It was a very enjoyable night for the fans. They really enjoyed it and they speak about it whenever you meet guys that were there.

"It was a special night. Unfortunately it wasn’t special enough to win though.”

The competitive nature of that tie was in stark contrast to Rangers being totally outplayed on Merseyside a decade later, with Celtic crashing 3-1 at RB Leipzig in another Champions League group match the following evening.

Criticism of both Glasgow giants’ performances has been rife in the aftermatch of these results but McGlynn has sympathy for the financial disparity they face when going in against Europe’s best.

"These days it’s all about the money and the finance,” he added. “Rangers have come out themselves and said the teams they play in Europe can’t believe the money they get from the TV deals compared to teams in England and abroad, who get much more money.

"So they’ve got more potential to attract better players as they have more money. It basically comes down to that.

"Likewise in the Scottish Premiership the other 10 teams don’t have the money of Celtic and Rangers. That’s why you tend to find they win the league every season and sometimes they’ll win 9-0, 4-0, 5-0 or 6-0.

"The boot’s on the other foot when Celtic, Rangers, Dundee United got a sore one, Motherwell went out very early – not that they went out to a team that was spending more money than them – but generally rival teams in Europe are in another league in terms of the finances they have got and the players they attract.

"Unfortunately we just have to do the best we possibly can. We’re doing well at international level, a lot of our players are playing in the English Premier League, getting great experience there and benefitting from that.

"You are hoping in time that would filter through to our domestic teams doing well in Europe as well.

"We’ve just got to stick at it and just make sure that we can get the best out of what we’ve got and make it as difficult and try to get results against these teams.

"But the financial clout that they’ve got is definitely an advantage.”