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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Mark Pirie

Ally McCoist hits out at 'crumbling' Rangers flops as he blasts 'shocking' loss to Liverpool

Ally McCoist blasted Rangers after they were thrashed 7-1 by Liverpool at Ibrox - insisting they "crumbled" under the Champions League pressure.

The former Light Blues star says he was delighted at half-time with Scott Arfield getting the hosts off to a dream start in the Champions League Battle of Britain, before Roberto Firmino equalised seven minutes later. However, Gio van Bronckhorst's men were still well in the game as they looked to kickstart their European campaign.

However, it was a completely different story second half as Liverpool went through the gears. Firmino's second was quickly followed by Darwin Nunez’s third and a quick-fire Mo Salah hat-trick. Harvey Elliott caused further embarrassment with a seventh, for which he even seemed to enjoy the VAR check that made him wait before celebrating in front of the Ibrox crowd, reports The Daily Record.

READ MORE: Liverpool's winners and losers as Mohamed Salah threatens to overshadow Roberto Firmino

McCoist didn't hold back on the Ibrox players as he dismantled the performance on the talkSPORT Breakfast Show.

He said: "It was unbelievable second half. Looking at the game first half, Rangers were doing fine and competing well. You are thinking they can come out the second half and do the same.

"It was going to be difficult losing Goldson, because I thought he did particularly well first half. But they crumbled, they just absolutely crumbled. I am looking at 2-1 with 25 minutes to go, 3-1 with 15 minutes to go and then they just lost the plot.

"Salah came on and was ruthless. There was nothing more evident of the gulf than that last 25 minutes.

Mohamed Salah scored the Champions League's fastest hat-trick (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

"At that level it can be so unforgiving. Even Ajax went 1-0 up and then they got beat 6-1 in the home game, and it just shows you if you're not on it, and the other team are in a ruthless mode, what can happen. Liverpool were excellent second half.

When pressed on Alan Brazil how big the gulf between the Premier League and Scottish football is currently, McCoist confessed: "Miles away, it's absolutely miles. I'm looking at the game last night and Klopp's first subs he brings on Salah, Thiago and Andy Robertson. That tells you all you need to know.

"One of Rangers best players, Goldson, goes off and they bring on an 18-year-old kid (Leon King). I'm not singling him out because I thought he did okay, but I am just trying to expose the gulf in class.

"I thought Celtic had a good 45 minutes against Real Madrid at home, and played well against Shakhtar away and created chances against Leipzig away. They are sitting with one point, it's amazing.

"It's a shocking result for Scottish football. Hearts, Celtic and Rangers have had some bad results but this one is shocking."

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