Facing tougher opponents in Champions League helping Rangers become stronger – Giovanni van Bronckhorst
Giovanni van Bronckhorst believes Rangers are becoming “stronger” after facing tough opponents in Europe.
The Gers are still without a point in the UEFA Champions League where they are placed in Group A alongside Napoli, Ajax and Liverpool.
Talking to the media before Rangers’ next game against St. Mirren on Saturday, 08 October, the Dutch manager was of the opinion that his team is getting better after facing teams like Liverpool.
“It’s a huge learning process for my players to play in the Champions League and to play at this level,” he said.
“Although it’s very hard and we didn’t want any points, this is the level you want to compete in and we don’t want to switch for another competition.
“Everyone wants to be involved in the Champions League but it’s really tough and we sense that and we feel that at the moment but just look at the groups, look at the teams, look at the teams who are struggling to get even in top two really good teams in Europe.
“So this is the level you want to compete in, although the lessons you learn is they’re really hard but I think we keep improving in the Champions League level.
“If you look at our games from the first game until the game we played against Liverpool the last time but I think also as a team we will become stronger and becoming stronger for us.
“That’s also really good to take that back to the league and the domestic cup competitions for me in Europe. We played Liverpool last Tuesday, a team who played in three European finals in five years. That’s incredible.
“And I think we did it against Liverpool when we conceded only twice from set pieces. Of course, we’re under pressure in large parts of the game, but if you see the games we lost before, we were already out of the game in the first 20-25 minutes and that’s the experience did much better against a difficult opponent.”
Important
Rangers started the season brightly where they secured their place in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in more than a decade.
But a little hiccup in the month of September turned things upside down as the Gers suffered back-to-back heavy defeats against Celtic, Ajax and Napoli.
It took a while for Rangers to recover from those results but they managed to secure back-to-back wins against Dundee United and Hearts.
A defeat in the midweek with the score of 2-0 against Liverpool has once again made Rangers fans fear for the worst. Therefore, it is extremely crucial for the players to get back to their very best in the next match against St. Mirren FC and secure all three points.
Looking at the overall record of the Gers against St. Mirren will give the fans a lot of hope as their side have won 28 times in 32 matches in the league competitions where they suffered just two defeats whereas two matches ended without a result [Transfermarkt].
In other Rangers news, Arsenal have scouted Rangers sensation Jack Wylie on multiple occasions