Rangers suffer 3-1 defeat to become 'worst ever' Champions League team

Rangers finished the group stage with 0 points and six losses from six games.

Rangers suffer 3-1 Champions League defeat to Ajax and become ‘worst team’ in tournament’s history SNS Group

Rangers have suffered another Champions League nightmare to become the worst team in the tournament’s history and the first British side to lose all six group games.

Ajax eased to a 3-1 win at Ibrox that means last season’s Europa League finalists have finished the campaign on 0 points and a goal difference of -20.

The defeat cements the Glasgow side’s place in the history books with the unwanted record that beats Dinamo Zagreb’s worst ever performance from the 2011/12 season when the Croatian side finished with 0 points and a goal difference of -19.

Rangers went into the game knowing they would have to avoid defeat, or they would be relying on Viktoria Plzen suffering an even heavier loss to Barcelona in the Czech Republic.

And they had the worst possible start when Steven Burghuis put Ajax ahead with the game just over three minutes old.

Rangers had their first real chance on the 13th minute mark but former player Calvin Bassey, who left Ibrox for Amsterdam in a deal worth around £20m, blocked Fashion Sakala’s goal bound header.

That gave the home support a boost and a corner was won a minute later before Colak and Arfield had a chance to draw the scores level, but the cross missed both by inches.

Allan McGregor was then called into action when he stopped a certain goal but the scoreline was doubled just moments later when Muhammed Kudus slotted home.

The Ghanian midfielder looked as if he had all the time in the world to finish when the ball fell to him inside the box, and he gave McGregor no chance as he made it 2-0 on the half-hour mark with his fourth goal of the group stage.

The 40-year-old, who was also in goals the last time Rangers won a Champions League game 12 years ago, was called into action again soon after when he made a save to stop what looked like a certain third.

At half-time it was 2-0 with the attention of some Rangers fan now on Czech Republic where Plzen were also losing by two goals to nil, staying one behind with the unwanted record on the line.

Ajax scored a third at the start of the second half but the strike from Kudus was ruled out for offside after a VAR check.

Barcelona scored again in Plzen but the hosts also scored twice to make it 3-2 as Rangers became closer to the dreaded record with around 20 minutes to go.

Arfield then came close to pulling a goal back on the 70th minute bus his volley was tipped over the bar by Ajax goalkeeper Remko Paszeer.

Going into the last ten minutes the game started to fizzle out with Ajax creating a couple of half chances to add further misery to the home support.

Alfredo Morelos then had the best chance of the game for Rangers after a mistake from Paszeer but the Colombian, who came on as a second half sub for Antonio Colak, fired his shot wide.

Then with five minutes they were awarded a penalty after a late tackle from Alvarez on Matondo and James Tavernier stepped up to score and make it 2-1.

But in the last minute of the game Francisco Conceição put the ball past McGregor to make it 3-1 and cement the unwanted record.

The referee blew his whistle to end a dismal European campaign for Rangers who are also the first British side to finish with 0 points and six losses from six.

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