By George Overhill

7th Sep, 2022 | 11:10am

talkSPORT pundit says Rangers and Celtic shouldn't get any results in the Champions League

Fans don’t want to see Rangers try to nick a result against Ajax so they should go at them and risk a defeat like Celtic did with Real Madrid, says Gabby Agbonlahor.

The Hoops lost 3-0 at Parkhead to the reigning European champions on Tuesday night (6 September) after going toe to toe for the first 50 minutes or so.

And former Aston Villa striker Agbonlahor thinks that is how the two Glasgow rivals have to approach the competition because the financial gulf means they shouldn’t get anything from games.

Speaking on talkSPORT on Wednesday morning (7 September), as per the Daily Record: “This is what I want to see from Rangers and Celtic in the Champions League.

“The fans don’t want to see you park the bus against Real Madrid, sit in and try and nick a 1-1 or a 0-0. Have a go.

“Celtic did well. The money difference between Celtic and Rangers and the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona means they shouldn’t be getting a result against them.

“Celtic fans will be proud of their team and I’m sure tonight, Rangers will have a good go against Ajax.”

Attack

Against European heavyweights the deck is going to be stacked against the Gers most of the time, but amid all the soul-searching at Ibrox at the moment, if there is one thing that Giovanni van Bronckhorst has shown he can do with this team it is get a result in Europe.

What Agbonlahor says is completely depending on the result. If you are going to get beaten by one of the biggest teams in the world either way then of course, why not go for it and give the crowd some entertainment?

But if Celtic had nicked a 1-1 draw by playing tighter then that would go down as far more memorable even if the game was comparatively uglier.

Arguably, what got the Light Blues through round after round of the Europa League last year was a willingness to attack opponents, particularly in the atmosphere at Ibrox.

But the difference between six entertaining defeats and the chance at a knock-out tie with a conservative game plan will be entirely a matter of preference.

Certainly a faster start, and a greater tempo in general, is something that fans would be pleased to see after the team was blown off the park with a vacant and sluggish performance in the Old Firm derby.

Although that defeat confirmed some of the worst fears about the lay of the land in the SPFL at the moment, the one area that the blue half of Glasgow is definitely more accomplished in of late it is getting results in European competition, so if the manager can pull another one out of the bag in Amsterdam it might go some way to making amends for the pathetic derby showing at the weekend.

In other Rangers news, a club failed with a late bid to sign a senior member of the first team squad before the transfer window closed.