Rangers vs Ajax: After the loss to Ajax, Giovanni van Bronckhorst arrived to the conclusion on Tuesday night: Rangers FC was a little too tiny for the Champions League group stage. The Gers are even remembered as the group stage competitor that performed the worst ever.
Van Bronckhorst finished the group stage with a goal differential of -20 and six losses. Steven Berghuis scored Ajax’s opening goal in the fourth minute of Tuesday’s game in Glasgow. We did not want a quick goal again. The second objective (by Mohammed Kudus, ed.) similarly came immediately after.
We didn’t produce a lot ourselves for the break,” the Rangers boss said to Ziggo Sport. “In this match, I saw a difference in fitness. You could see at moments that the energy was much less on our side even though we tried to put a lot of pressure on you. The fitness gap with Ajax was significant, which was also evident in football. Recently, there have been a number of injuries. We had a game over the weekend; Ajax didn’t. Due to injuries, I had to substitute a few players on Saturday.”
Rangers vs Ajax: Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s reaction to the worst campaign
Van Bronckhorst was compelled to select James Sands (22) and Leon King (18) for the centre back position. “To have a chance of success at this level, we must be at the top. The fact that we had qualified for the Champions League again after a lengthy absence was encouraging, but we had to play against three teams that had been competing at this level for many years. This year, the level is still too high for us,” the Dutch coach said.
Van Bronckhorst feels saddened that Rangers is currently the worst Champions League participant in history. “There is nothing we can do to change the facts; they are what they are. Although it is bad, this is nevertheless incredibly informative for us. We are making every effort to return the following year. Then, using all of our previous experiences, we must improve. We are a sizable club yet come from a long way. Then, when you play at your best again, the standards are raised. Booing is to be expected when things become more challenging. But in the competition, we are in good form. We must keep fighting because we are vying for the title,” Giovanni van Bronckhorst concluded.
