From first minute to last, this has been the pits
AFTER clawing their way back up the divisions and winning the Premiership title last year, a return to the Champions League was always regarded as the final stretch of Rangers’ journey.
If a reappearance on this stage for the first time since 2010 was seen as necessary in order to bookend the chaotic years which followed insolvency, then this experience has proven to be far more traumatic than cathartic.
Never has the old wisdom about being careful what you wish for felt more apt as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side have slid from one disaster to the next. Never has the Europa League felt so appealing.
Whether this level of football has simply moved on since the Ibrox men were last involved or they’ve simply failed to show their true selves, it’s been hugely chastening. Ajax put the tin lid on it all last night.
Pitched in with Napoli, Liverpool and the Dutch side, surely only the most wide-eyed optimist in the Copland Road end envisaged Van Bronckhorst’s men making the last 16.
Bluntly, given the disparity in resources, parachuting into the Europa League would have been a laudable achievement. Even missing out on that while straining every sinew would have been forgivable.
What we’ve seen from virtually the first moment in Amsterdam eight weeks ago, however, has been a long way short of acceptable.
That four-goal rout at the hands of Ajax set the tone for a thoroughly miserable campaign that continued up until the final whistle sounded in game six.
Sure, they were in the game until Napoli scored in Glasgow. They also succeeded in keeping the score down at Anfield and in Naples.
But that seven-goal hammering by Liverpool at Ibrox, featuring six second-half goals, became emblematic of a truly feeble effort over the piece.
As tough as this task always was, no one can say they anticipated the failure to be quite so pronounced.
In May, Rangers were a penalty kick away from winning the Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt. They’d beaten good sides in Braga and Red Star Belgrade to get there, Champions League-class sides in the cases of Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig.
So when Union Saint-Gilloise and PSV Eindhoven were dispatched in the qualifiers, players and supporters were entitled to believe they could make an appreciable impact.
Heading into last night’s finale desperately trying to avoid the ignominy of being the competition’s worst-ever side was not the kind of impression anyone had in mind.
Whatever criticisms can justifiably be levelled at the Rangers manager, he’s not had his selection troubles to seek of late.
With no fewer than ten players missing last night, he filled his bench with Robbie Fraser and Connor Allan, both without a single first-team appearance between them, and Adam Devine, a seasoned veteran by comparison with three.
It felt like a Champions League game in name only. There was smoke inside the arena as these famous clubs entered the field yet not quite the thunderous noise you’d associate with these nights. You could understand it. The home support had seen their favourites ship 19 goals in five games up until this point. And within four minutes, it was 20.
Not for the first time, fingers were pointed at skipper James Tavernier for a lack of vigilance on the back foot.
Ajax’s passing and movement was impressive but the way they cut through the home side was alarming. Mohammed Kudus put the ball on a plate for Steven Berghuis to cutely finish.
The failure of Rangers to turn promising spells of possession into meaningful chances has been a recurring theme of the campaign. There was no let-up here.
Passes were either overhit or undercooked. Runs were laboured and unimaginative. There was just no spark. Ajax, in contrast, were inventive and energised.
Time seemed to stand still as Kudus weighed up his options in the box after another seamless sequence of passes carved the home defence open again. He nonchalantly picked his spot beyond Allan McGregor. It was two-nil going on pretty much anything at the break. The second half saw phones regularly checked for news of the progress of Barcelona away to Viktoria Plzen. Not so much a crumb of comfort being sought as a trace.
It made a strange kind of game of it; there were groans when word of a goal for the Czechs filtered through. A ripple of optimism when there was news of one for the Catalans or when VAR ruled Kudus had strayed offside before netting.
Those who departed early did miss a remarkable closing period. Alfredo Morelos contrived to miss an open goal before Tavernier halved the arrears with a penalty.
Within two minutes, though, Francisco Conceicao had ensured Rangers would take the one title they did not want.
As their fans made their way home in cars and buses, the only possible consolation was that this most tortuous episode is finally over. And not a minute too soon.