By Colin Moffat BBC Sport Online

Hampden Park will host Wednesday night's Champions' League final, adding another chapter to Scotland's involvement with European football's showpiece event.

For a small nation, Scotland has made a significant contribution to the competition.

It is the third time Europe's premier final has come to Glasgow.

Scotland's national stadium is much changed from the old days of vast terracing and the capacity has been reduced to 52,000, but with Real Madrid in town, facing Germans Bayer Leverkusen, there is sure to be a special atmosphere.

The first game came in 1960 when Real Madrid captured the trophy for a fifth consecutive time, beating Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in the process.

A crowd of 127,000 watched Ferenc Puskas score four, while Alfredo di Stefano pitched in with a hat-trick for the Spanish aristocrats in what is widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time.

Alfredo Di Stefano shone at Hampden in 1960

In 1976 German legend Franz Beckenbauer lifted the cup for Bayern Munich after a 1-0 win over St Ettienne.

Rangers were the beaten semi finalists in 1960, having lost 12 goals over two legs to Frankfurt, and, after an unbeaten run of 10 games, narrowly missed out on the final in the first season of the Champions League in 1993.

However, it is Glasgow rivals Celtic that boast the best Scottish record in the European Cup.

The Parkhead side were the first British side to win the trophy back in 1967, when a team of eleven Scots conquered Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon.

Legions of Scots travelled to Portugal to witness Tommy Gemmell open the scoring and Stevie Chalmers net the winner.

Celtic should have won the competition again three years later, but a strangely lacklustre performance saw Feyenoord win the 1970 final 2-1, with Gemmell again on the scoresheet.

Inter Milan gained revenge in the 1972 semi final, beating Celtic on penalties after two 0-0 draws and two seasons later Atletico Madrid edged the Parkhead side out of another semi.

The small city of Dundee can boast two European Cup semi finalists, both losing out to top-notch Italian opposition.

Franz Beckenbauer was a Hampden winner in 1976

Dundee were convincingly beaten by AC Milan in 1963, while 21 years later Dundee United squandered a 2-0 first leg lead over Roma to miss out on setting up an all-British final with 1984 winners Liverpool.

It should also be remembered that Hibernian were the first British team to enter the European Cup in its inaugural 1955-56 season.

The Edinburgh side were among 16 sides invited to compete in the tournament devised by French sports newspaper L'Equipe and went on to reach the semi finals.

Hibs were beaten by a Raymond Kopa-inspired Reims, who, in turn, lost out 4-3 to Real Madrid in the final.

Already record holders, the Spanish giants can capture the trophy for a ninth time if they win in Glasgow.

A win for Leverkusen would see the cup go to a team that has never won its domestic league.

Whichever way it goes Hampden will provide a fitting venue for another historic occasion.