James Tavernier will fulfil a boyhood dream when he leads Rangers out for their Champions League return. But he admits the Ibrox side have no choice but to cut out the shambolic blunders at the back that led to their nightmare on Kerrydale Street. Aged 30, the Gers skipper is at last ready to play out the ambition he’s held since childhood as he prepares to taste action in UEFA’s top tournament for the first time in Amsterdam tonight.
But he’s well aware a repeat of the catastrophic defending that allowed Celtic to run riot on Saturday will render his big group-stage bow a night to forget. Tavernier said: “It’s a dream come true. Not just as a captain but as a player, too. It’s every kid’s dream when you play football.
"You watch Champions League games when you’re young, you hear the music. To be actually playing in it and to be captaining a side in it is a dream come true for a boy. Obviously we were disappointed with the weekend and what happened. We’ve all had meetings on it and had a look back on how we played.
“But the good thing about European football is you have a midweek game and a chance to really bounce back to the performances you want to do, to rectify things. From the first whistle we’ll be trying to put the performance in that deserves credit for the team and put a performance in for the fans. Obviously the goals are something we all can definitely improve on.
“We conceded at the weekend, there’s no hiding away from that. That’s the thing about football you’re here to learn, and it’s something we have to learn moving forward, and I’m sure the boys will.
“The character of the team is strong, we have great experience in the team. Going forward I don’t see that being an issue.
"Our play was good but the manner of goals changed the dynamics of the game. We don't want to concede those types of goals and if we rectify that we will obviously be in a stronger position."
Holland has proved to be a happy hunting ground for Gers in recent seasons. Steven Gerrard’s Light Blues followed up a narrow home win over Feyenoord by claiming a 2-2 draw in Rotterdam as they escaped their Europa League section for the first time in 2019.
A 4-0 thumping of Willem II in Tillburg the following season sent them back to the group stages, while it was the claiming of another Dutch scalp in Eindhoven last month that sent Gers back to the group stages after 12 months locked outside the European elite.
But Ajax are the current kings of the Netherland and have started the season looking like they mean business with five wins out of five Eredivisie fixtures. "We played PSV and Feyenoord over here, but Ajax are undefeated this (league) season and it will be a tough test,” admitted Tavernier.
“They’ve lost some good players but that’s why we want to be in this competition, to go toe to toe with the best teams in Europe.”
And the Rangers captain hopes a positive result can reignite a league campaign that has yet to really spark. These games, they take care of themselves,” he said. “It is an open game against better opponents respective to our league and we also want to get that momentum back again.
“We want to come away tomorrow night with a good result and then take that into the weekend against Aberdeen. There is always fire there to rectify (bad results). We want to rectify what happened at the weekend and get back to the standard we know we can get to.”
READ NEXT
