Ajax trashed Rangers 4-0 in their UEFA Champions League meeting on Wednesday night. A long wait to return to Champions League football has turned into a nightmare for Rangers. Just four days after suffering a damning 4-0 defeat against Glasgow rivals Celtic, Giovanni Van Bronchorst’s team received a footballing lesson in Amsterdam. Facing an extremely energetic and in-form Ajax side didn’t help Rangers’ cause one bit, of course. Rangers have already made a few lucky escapes when Mexican defender Edson Alvarez rose the highest to steer a Steven Berghuis free kick into the far corner.Rangers fall further behind after a cruel slice of luck for defender James Sands, who attempted to block a Berghuis’ shot, only to completely change its direction and send it past his goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin.Ajax were already two goals ahead, but they hadn’t had enough and they kept pushing forward. Merely a minute later, Ghanaian international midfielder Mohammed Kudus produced the best moment of the match. He escaped everyone down the left before unleashing an unstoppable rising shot into the far corner. Barely half-hour into the match and Rangers were looking down the barrel of another drubbing.Rangers have produced minor miracles in Europe this calendar year when they reached the Europa League final and lost it narrowly on penalties. Van Bronckhorst needed a pretty big one at Johan Cruijff Arena and looked on the right track when their Croatian left-back Borna Barisic hit the net with a glorious curling shot from the corner of the area. However, his teammate Ryan Kent was offside in the buildup and the goal was annulled after a VAR review.Ajax were taking it easy in the second half, knowing that they’ve already won the match. However, there was still time for Steven Bergwijn, the former Tottenham forward, to cut out an abysmal backpass from Ryan Jack to roll the ball into the empty net and make it 4-0 with ten minutes left.This was a painful lesson for Rangers, who got to see what top-class football looks like. They conceded eight goals in just four days and will have to put all their efforts into bouncing back. And Ajax? They are simply immense.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 1Tuesday Dinamo Zagreb – Chelsea 1-0 (1-0)/Orsic 13/Dortmund – Copenhagen 3-0 (2-0)/Reus 35, Guerreiro 42, Bellingham 83/Salzburg – Milan 1-1 (1-0)/Saelemaekers 40 – Okafor 28/Celtic – Real Madrid 0-3 (0-0)/Junior 56, Modric 60, Hazard 77/RB Leipzig – Shakhtar 1-4 (0-1)/Simakan 57 – Shved 16, 58, Mydruk 76, Traore 85/Sevilla – Man City 0-4 (0-1)/Haaland 20, 67, Foden 58, Dias 90+2/Benfica – Maccabi Haifa 2-0 (0-0)/Silva 49, Grimaldo 54/PSG – Juventus 2-1 (2-0)/Mbappe 5, 22 – McKennie 53/Wednesday Ajax – Rangers 4-0 (3-0)/Alvarez 17, Berghuis 32, Kudus 33, Bergwijn 80/Eintracht Frankfurt – Sporting CP 0-3 (0-0)/Edwards 65, Trincao 67, Santos 82/22.00: (3.80) Napoli (3.60) Liverpool (2.05)22.00: (1.85) Atl.Madrid (3.50) Porto (5.00)22.00: (3.40) Club Brugge (3.60) Leverkusen (2.20)22.00: (1.07) Barcelona (15.0) Plzen (35.0)22.00: (4.10) Inter (3.80) Bayern (1.92)22.00: (1.53) Tottenham (4.30) Olympique Marseille (7.00)***odds are subject to change
