Rangers Slump in Champions League Return: AFC Ajax 4-0 Rangers- Review

After a long 12-year absence from the Champions League group stages, Rangers travelled to Holland to start their journey – a country they are all too familiar with, having defeated PSV just two weeks ago. But this time Amsterdam was their destination as they faced Ajax, a club that comes synonymous with Champions League success.

Fresh off the back of an embarrassing Old Firm defeat, it’d be expected that Giovanni van Bronckhorst would take a different approach to the match and that looked to be the case as his omission of Steven Davis meant two natural wingers came back into the side – Scott Wright and Ryan Kent.

Not long after kick-off it was evident that Rangers’ approach to this game wasn’t as different as it appeared on paper with Ajax blatantly on the front foot. Rangers’ defending of set-pieces was worrying as in the opening minutes Jurrien Timber was left unmarked, however, his header didn’t find the target. Ajax continued attacking relentlessly and it took no time at all for it to pay off with another unmarked header turned in by Edson Alvarez. The marking from corners appears to be a glaring issue with Rangers’ defence at the moment with identical goals being conceded against PSV.

The floodgates opened for Ajax and much-like their showing against Celtic at the weekend, Rangers crumbled under the pressure. John Lundstram struggled to close Steven Berghuis down, who got the ball out from under his feet and with the help of James Sands’ boot added a second. Not even two minutes passed before the hosts added a third as great balance from Mohammed Kudus saw him hold off James Tavernier and fire a brilliant strike into the far corner. Rangers were once again 3-0 down at half-time.

With little to save but pride, van Bronckhorst made a triple-substitution at half-time, which saw Leon King, Ryan Jack and Rabbi Matondo replace Tavernier, Malik Tillman and Scott Wright.

Rangers looked to have added a consolation with 15 minutes remaining after Borna Barisic curled a right-footed shot into the top corner, but VAR ruled Kent offside in the build-up. This all but summed up Rangers night.

Ajax added a fourth late on in the game as a slack pass allowed Bergwijn to pounce on the ball and slot it past McLaughlin.

An under-pressure van Bronckhorst now prepares to take his side to Pittodrie on Saturday lunchtime with a pretty big hole to pull himself and his team out of.