Giovanni van Bronckhorst admits Rangers still have to aspire to the level Ajax are at ahead of the Champions League clash between Group A’s bottom two sides tonight.
Gers are at the foot of the table with five straight defeats and a goal difference of -18, having lost 4-0 to the Dutch outfit in Amsterdam in their section opener, and they need an unlikely 5-0 win to make it into the Europa League.
After beating last season’s Europa League finalists with ease, Ajax lost home and away to Napoli and Liverpool who have already qualified for the knock-out stages.
However, van Bronckhorst pointed out the discrepancy between the clubs who will play their final group game at Ibrox.
‘Compete with Ajax? A team that has almost played the final and for five or six years in a row have been doing well in Europe,’ said the Dutchman on the eve of the game, as he confirmed midfielder Glen Kamara is back in the Rangers squad – but defenders Ben Davies and Ridvan Yilmaz are out, while midfielder John Lundstram is banned.
‘We’ve been doing well in Europe the last three years, but we are still not at the same level as Ajax. We are developing.
‘If you see Ajax, the players overall are from a higher level, their budget is higher. They bought players for £100million. They bought a not bad defender (Calvin Bassey) from us last season.
‘We can’t compare ourselves to Ajax but we can compete with them on the day, especially at Ibrox.’
Van Bronckhorst believes even a point to finish off their first Champions League campaign in 12 years would be ‘positive’ for the club.
He said: ‘The group is hard. Ajax only have three points. Last year they had a 100-per-cent record in the Champions League (group stage). Tomorrow we can match their points if we win.’
The absence of Davies, Yilmaz and Lundstram is another blow to Van Bronckhorst who has a clutch of players on the sidelines.
Centre-back Davies came off at half-time of the 4-1 win over Aberdeen at Ibrox on Saturday with a groin problem while left-back Yilmaz was replaced after eight minutes with a hamstring complaint. Kamara is back after missing the last six games through injury and will be a much-needed addition to the squad.
Van Bronckhorst said: ‘We have Kamara but Yilmaz will be out for several weeks. Tomorrow will be too early for Ben.’
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