Sean Fisher

Tue 1 November 2022 16:40, UK

Rangers face Ajax in the Champions League on Tuesday night, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side are at risk of having the worst record ever set in the competition.

After picking up no points in their first five Champions League games, Rangers’ only hope of staying in Europe this season is to beat Ajax by five or more clear goals at Ibrox.

The Dutch side won 4-0 in the reverse fixture in the very first group fixture, so Van Bronckhorst’s side must better it to qualify via head-to-head record.

However, there’s also a chance for the club to set the worst-ever record set in the Champions League group stage should Ajax win by two or more goals. Dinamo Zagreb currently hold the record with no points and a -19 goal difference in the 2012/13 season.

Unfortunately, talkSPORT pundit Jamie O’Hara thinks it’s a real possibility. Speaking via talkSPORT EDGE, O’Hara said: “I didn’t think they’d be this bad!

“Just because of how good they were in the Europa League. I mean it’s not that much of a difference to the Champions League, there are still decent sides in Europa League that you have to beat.

“It’s been a disaster for them really as they won’t even get into Europa now.

“They’ve been absolutely found out, found wanting. They’ll get beaten by Ajax. I don’t want them to be the worst team ever but I think they will be. 3-0.”

A campaign to forget

Excitement was at an all-time high for Rangers after they ended their Champions League drought. After such an exciting Europa League campaign, there was hope that Gers could at least give it a go this season.

But it turns out that the Champions League campaign came at the wrong time for Rangers. The side have been in poor form and look far more nervous and fragile than they did last season during the Europa League run.

Getting drawn into a very tough group didn’t help matters. Rangers have been huge underdogs in every clash so far, and that won’t change on Tuesday night despite the home advantage.

Liverpool were last year’s finalists, Ajax boast vast experience in the Champions League and Napoli have been one of the most impressive sides in Europe this season.

So all in all Rangers can’t beat themselves up too much, but it’s still disheartening that they haven’t been able to put up a fight in any match so far.

That has to change on Tuesday night. Ajax at home is probably the best chance Rangers have of picking up points, and they’ll desperately want to avoid becoming the worst

In other Rangers news, a pundit issues a ‘massive’ verdict on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s future after the Aberdeen win