That's the thing about Rangers and Celtic. The mood can change so quickly. The Ibrox side are still smarting from their derby drubbing on Saturday but after their rivals were well beaten by Real Madrid in their Champions League opener then the confidence can return to the Light Blues with a positive result in Holland.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side are up against it in Amsterdam but have produced their best results in Europe so earning at least a point on their Champions League group stage return isn't beyond them. Since Rangers last played a game at this stage of Europe's premier competition, they've won the Scottish Premiership, been sent to Scottish League Two, come all the way back up again, won the top-flight once more and even reached a Europa League Final. This is a bigger test than they've faced in all the time however as they finally return to Europe's top table.
Van Bronckhorst is back in his homeland just two weeks after last winning there. His team took care of PSV in Eindhoven, where Antonio Colak's goal got them through their playoff encounter with Ruud van Nistelrooy's men. Now they face Dutch champions Ajax, who are group stage regulars and reached the last four in 2019 before a heart-breaking last gasp defeat against Tottenham.
Rangers last faced the Eredivise giants back in October 1996. A Paul Gascoigne red card helped the hosts cruise to a 4-1 victory However, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst winning on his home soil and sweeping Rangers into the group stages with a 3-2 aggregate win over PSV Eindhoven last month, he will be hoping to achieve similar success against Alfred Schreuder's men.
The only notable absentees for the Gers are Filip Helander, Kemar Roofe and Ianis Hagi, who remain sidelined with injuries picked up before the season even began. While Alfredo Morelos will probably not get a run-in the side after a string of below-par performances over the last two weeks, and the squad may find it extremely hard to bounce back from the 4-0 defeat at Celtic at the weekend before they travel to the continent..
Yet with Ajax having lost manager Erik ten Hag plus star players Antony and Lisandro Martinez to Manchester United amongst other stars such as Sebastian Haller, Noussair Mazraoui and Ryan Gravenberch to the Bundesliga, it is arguably the worst Ajax team for quite some time. Here is everything you need to know about the crunch clash...
When and where is Ajax vs Rangers?
The Champions League group stage tie will be played at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.
The clash kicks off at 5:45pm on Wednesday, September 7.
What channel is Ajax vs Rangers on?
The game will be broadcast live on BT Sport 4.
Will there be a live stream?
Yes, you can live stream the action from the BT Sport app.
You must be a subscriber to tune in on the app, which is available for download onto your mobile or tablet device.
Where else can I follow the action?
You can keep up with all the action right here on dailyrecord.co.uk! Record Sport will be running a live blog with all the pre-match build-up and team news, and every kick of the ball once the action gets underway.
After the game, we'll have all the reaction from managers and players, as well as player ratings, talking points and a whole lot more.
