Gutted Giovanni van Bronckhorst insists Rangers CAN’T compete with the Champions League elite on their current budget as he reflected on a hammering by top seeds Ajax in their Group A opener.
The Light Blues’ return to the group stage of the continent’s top competition after a 12-year absence ended in a nightmare as they were taught a lesson by the Dutch outfit who cruised to a 4-0 win in the Johan Cruyff Arena.
It comes just days after Rangers slumped to the same scoreline against rivals Celtic with pressure stating to mount on the Ibrox boss ahead of Saturday’s huge trip to Aberdeen in the the Scottish Premiership. Questions have been asked of the backing Van Bronckhorst has received from the Rangers board in the summer, with Calvin Bassey starring for Ajax after he was sold for £20 million in the summer. When questioned whether or not he had been given enough to compete on BT Sport, he said: “To compete in Champions League you need hundreds of millions.
“If you look at all the squads you are facing now - Ajax and Liverpool. For us to compete with them it’s too much to ask. We want to compete but we want to compete with the squad we have and are able and capable in making. We knew it was going to be tough and that showed today.
“Of course, I’m very disappointed. We knew the Champions League would be a high level and Ajax showed throughout the game how strong they are. You have to be 100 per cent to be ready for the game and you could see everything goes quicker in the Champions League. The pressure we got, thinking on the ball, ball control and speed of passing is all from a really high level.
“We couldn’t reach that level, especially in the first half, and struggled and every mistake we made on the pitch gets punished by an opponent like Ajax. It’s difficult. You don’t want to give space away against Ajax and we gave away less in the second half because we played a little bit more defensively.
“The first half we went too quick with our opponents who draw players away to make space. We should have stayed more in our zones which we didn’t do well and every mistake you make gets punished.
“The performance wasn’t good. The players are committed and want to play the way we want. They want to fight and work hard but it’s going to be really tough against an opponent like Ajax when you’re not organised because there’s a big difference in the level.”
Skipper James Tavernier was one of three players hooked at the break but Van Bronckhorst said: “Tav already had a knock a couple of weeks ago. He’s struggling a little bit with his fitness.”
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