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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Liam Bryce

Charlie Nicholas fears Rangers 'big zero' on the way as he makes grim Champions League prediction

Charlie Nicholas reckons Rangers face crashing out of the Champions League without collecting a single point.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst 's side have opened their group stage campaign with successive defeats to Ajax and Napoli and have yet to find the net on their return to the big stage. They next face a double header with last season's finalists Liverpool and Nicholas has predicted they will take nothing from the two fixtures.

He also reckons a trip to Naples will likely prove fruitless and believes Rangers' best chance of putting points on the board will be their final fixture at home to Ajax. Rangers cut the Premiership gap to Celtic back to two points at the weekend but Nicholas insists their European outlook is grim. He wrote in his Scottish Daily Express column: "While that's a bonus for Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side, I do still fear for them in Europe.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they don't pick up a single point in the Champions League this season - that's the stark reality of this competition and the level of the teams they face. When you get the Hollywood draw of Liverpool, Ajax and Napoli then the horror scenario is staring you in the face.

"It's not dissimilar to what happened to Celtic under Brendan Rodgers in his second campaign in the competition when they were battered by PSG, lost home and away to Bayern Munich and collected just three points with a win over Anderlecht. I honestly can't see Rangers taking anything from the Liverpool double-header in their next Group A outings. The Light Blues then go to Italy to take on a Napoli side who might need to win to progress.

"Gers certainly competed with the Serie A leaders for nearly an hour at Ibrox last week until James Sands was sent off. It's difficult to look too far ahead but Rangers' best hope of avoiding the nightmare of a big zero appears to be taking something from Ajax at Ibrox in their final group game."

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