Simply the worst.
It's a tag Rangers will hate but will have to get used to, at least until another team produces a more wretched Champions League campaign than the one they completed on Tuesday with a record of played six, lost six, two goals scored, 22 conceded. Or to put it another way, over the course of the nine torturous hours played against Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli, Gio van Bronckhorst 's side shipped a goal every 24 and a half minutes.
Ajax took seven off them, Liverpool nine - including a 7-1 walloping that was the heaviest home defeat in the club's history, Napoli helped themselves to six and the bitter truth is that on each occasion the Dutch, English and Italians could have inflicted far greater damage. So what went wrong? How could a team which rampaged to the final of the Europa League less than six months ago with a brand of fast, physical attacking football that swept aside the likes of RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund before losing on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt have been transformed so rapidly into a pale shadow of a side that looked terrified of the competition they had worked so hard to get to?
And, incidentally, those three Bundesliga teams have also found themselves in the Champions League this season and all three have made it through the group stages, which partially destroys the myth that the chasm between the top tier tournament and the Europa League is too big to be bridged. Why partially? Let's take a look at Rangers' group.
GROUP OF DEATH
When the draw was made, Rangers were still in the post-coital bliss of having gone so far with the bridesmaid. The Europa League was fantastic, big scalps had been taken so bring on anybody was the feeling.
Then Liverpool - three times finalists in the last five years came out of the hat. Then Napoli, the best team in Italy and arguably the best in Europe. And finally, Ajax, Champions League regulars with the kind of loose change down the back of their sofa to spend £20m taking Rangers' best player from them before a ball was kicked.
It really could not have been tougher, so in that respect Rangers got unlucky and succumbed in a group of death by 22 cuts.
ATTITUDE
It was almost as if van Bronckhorst's men didn't feel as if they belonged. Right from the first whistle in the opener in Amsterdam they allowed themselves to be bullied and blown away. They lost a goal in the 17th minute and two more were to follow just after the half hour mark.
This inability to regroup after a setback was to be repeated time and again in the campaign. Ajax went on to score a fourth 10 minutes from time but they'd won the match after 33 minutes. And failure to respond to adversity was evidenced in the following match when Rangers played well for an hour against Napoli but folded as soon as James Sands was sent off and the 10-men conceded three goals in the remaining half hour.
Next match up, Liverpool at Anfield, and the Scots looked beaten before a ball was kicked. Devoid of confidence, any shred of belief was ripped from them by Trent Alexander-Arnold's stunning free kick after just seven minutes. Only one more goal was lost but that was entirely down to a sensational shot-stopping show from Allan McGregor. What followed, when Liverpool turned up at Ibrox the following week, was a second half humiliation the likes of which the home support has never seen.
With the score at 1-1, Connor Goldson limped off injured just before the break and Rangers allowed themselves to be swamped. By the end, they had stopped tracking runners, failed to make challenges and were reduced to bystanders as Mo Salah came off the bench to help himself to three of the six goals they scored in that 45 minutes. All that remained were the trip to Naples - two goals down in 16 minutes and a damage limitation job helped by the Italians only scoring one more goal as they turned it into a training session, followed by Ajax barely breaking sweat at Ibrox before winning 3-1 to help Rangers secure that unwanted piece of history.
INJURIES
Did they play their part? Undoubtedly. The central defence was hammered. Filip Helander and John Souttar didn't kick a ball in the campaign. Ben Davies took a long time to get up to speed and then he too got injured. Goldson's injury against Liverpool was devastating and his loss cannot be underplayed. Having Leon King at 18 and James Sands, a holding midfielder with so little experience at the heart of the defence, was only going to end one way against the quality of opposition they faced. At varying points, key figures like Ryan Jack, Tom Lawrence and Glen Kamara were lost. Ianis Hagi, such an influence in European games, hasn't played all season. Kemar Roofe too, so yes, injuries played their part.
RECRUITMENT
The test of any recruitment strategy is simple: do the players brought in make the team better? Rangers lost two massive influences in Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo from the team that made it to Seville. Souttar and Davies were brought in - Souttar with a well-documented injury record that sadly has become worse at Ibrox - and Davies, now settling in but also with injury worries. Neither can say they've replaced Bassey adequately. Ridvan Yilmaz was supposed to be the answer at left back but the young Turkish international has barely played and is now out with a hamstring injury.
In midfield, Tom Lawrence, signed from Derby had made a positive impact and his ability to get goals from midfield would have been a Godsend in this campaign. But he too didn't kick a ball in the Champions League.
Rabbi Matondo has flattered to deceive in the wide areas, playing in fits and starts, and while Antonio Colak has been on fire domestically, his European performances were flat and fruitless.
Having made the Champions League, Rangers could have added more quality but chose not to. That's on the board and the manager.
Whether throwing another £10m or so at it, though, would barely have made a dent in the opposition they faced.
But the recruitment, clearly, has not been good enough.
SUMMARY
Rangers were outclassed by better players. That can happen. What is more difficult to accept though, is the manner in which they accepted their hammerings. The lack of determination to get close enough to their opponents to shake them out of their comfort zone; the lack of mental strength when the going got tough. It was as if Rangers believed the Europa League is their level and they had no right to be where they were. This all happened on van Bronckhorst's watch.
Yes, injuries and the quality they faced brewed into a perfect storm but when a team is being battered and bruised with all hopes of survival seemingly scattered in the winds, that's when leadership is required. Rangers had none of it on the pitch or on the sidelines. They accepted their fate far too easily and that's why today a Rangers strip that once had five stars above its crest now has a badge of dishonour that won't be easily washed off.
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