Pressure: Giovanni van Bronckhorst

Rangers 1 Ajax 3
Ibrox Stadium

Rangers are officially the worst team in Champions League history after suffering their sixth straight defeat in the competition.

The loss to Ajax brought the curtain down on a campaign to forget for manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who saw his side finish bottom of Group A with zero points and a record-breaking goal difference of -20.

It was Rangers’ first appearance in the Champions League for 12 years but the step up in class was too much as the Dutch side, Liverpool and Napoli all helped themselves to maximum points, with the low point coming in the shape of the 7-1 hammering by Jurgen Klopp’s men in Glasgow.

Rangers managed to score just two goals in their six games, their goal difference exceeding previous record-holders Dinamo Zagreb (-19).

“You know the gap is there, but we don’t want to concede so many goals,” said Van Bronckhorst, who is coming under growing pressure with his side now out of Europe and trailing Celtic by four points at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

“We struggled against teams of the highest quality, it’s a big learning experience for us.

“I’ve competed in this competition, I won this competition, so I know the other side. Now I face the side of the team who is not on the same level yet, and we struggled with that. Liverpool, Napoli, Ajax are teams who are operating in this league for years now, and that’s been hard for us.

“Of course we want to be involved again next year, but then we have to do better. It’s been hard, those are facts.

“This is the first time for many of my players to play in the Champions League. They’re not used to the level of opponents. Of course, the injuries don’t help, but whenever you are on the pitch for Rangers, you expect to get results.

“The positive is that we operated on the highest level after 12 years. We need to be better – every time you aren’t in the right positions, you will struggle against any team. We have to learn and take that to the next game.”

Rangers’ Group A results

Ajax 4 Rangers 0

Rangers 0 Napoli 3

Liverpool 2 Rangers 0

Rangers 1 Liverpool 7

Napoli 3 Rangers 0

Rangers 1 Ajax 3