Steven Davis admits it hurts to be branded the worst team in Champions League history. But the veteran midfielder has challenged his teammates not to hide - and use it as motivation to get back there next year.
Rangers were always going to struggle in a group with Napoli, Liverpool and Ajax but the manner in which they crashed out rung alarm bells around Ibrox. They scored just twice, conceded 22, and failed to pick up a single point as they signed off from European action with a whimper.
They bowed out with a timid display against Ajax as the Dutch side made it clear early on there was no chance of a miraculous 5-0 win that would have seen Gio van Bronckhorst 's team nick third place from under their noses. And after that 3-1 defeat at Ibrox consigned them to the worst group stage record the competition has ever seen, Davis admits it hurts that they will now go down in the history books for all the wrong reasons.
He told Rangers TV: "Of course it hurts. Nobody wants that attached to their name. We just need to improve. There’s no hiding away from the fact that we’ve not been good enough.
"Everybody wants to play at the highest level possible. The Champions League is that. It has been a step up. But we want to get back here as soon as possible – and prove that we’re better than we’ve shown in these six games.
“We’ve found the level a real, real big step up and that’s been reflected in the results. We wanted to get off to a positive start in the game, unfortunately we conceded the first goal, and then it was an uphill struggle.
“Listen, we’ve found the level a step up to what we’re used to. We wanted to be competitive and positive but you get punished for your mistakes by these teams. We’ve found that throughout the six games.
"It has been a difficult learning curve in this Champions League campaign. We need to try and look at it and improve but we also need to park it and concentrate on our domestic competition and hopefully we can be back at this level next year and this experience will have been good for us."
To Win tickets to Rangers' 2023 home matches, enter the competition below. If the form is not working CLICK HERE
Rangers travel to Perth on Sunday to face St Johnstone as they look to reel Celtic back in and reclaim their Premiership title at the first time of asking. Davis went on: “That is the one positive because there is a quick turnaround and it is another big game away to St Johnstone. We need to go there, concentrate and put on a similar performance as we did at the weekend.
“It is difficult straight after a game to look at the positives but the experience some of the younger players have got, experiencing it for the first time will stand them in good stead for their future careers. It shows us all how much we all need to improve and we need to concentrate on if we want to get back to this level competing. That will be the aim for us as a group.”
READ NEXT
