Van Bronckhorst urges Gers to use Celtic thrashing as motivation at Ajax

Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst warned his side they must "feel the emotions" of Saturday's Old Firm thrashing when they travel to Ajax.

The Gers' 4-0 defeat at Celtic was far from ideal preparation for their first Champions League campaign in 12 years.

But Van Bronckhorst believes that hurting from a result like that is a must if they are to become a better side.

"If you have a heavy defeat like we did on Saturday it must feel really bad. You have to feel the emotions of a defeat to bounce back even harder," he said.

"On Sunday, we had our first meeting after Celtic but also looking forward to Ajax. You have to keep going. 

"As a player I played for some big teams in Europe, but also suffered some really big defeats.

"If you want to reach a higher level, if you want to keep developing, you have to learn from your mistakes and your defeats."

Keeper Jon McLaughlin came in for particular criticism on Saturday for his part in the humbling, including passing the ball straight to Celtic substitute David Turnbull for the fourth goal.

But the Dutch boss refused to single out any players — and said he could change the whole side if he wanted to.

The 47-year-old added: "Many things went wrong. So I could change everything from Saturday and play with a different team tomorrow, different tactics. 

"But I think you have to keep hold of your way of playing.

"You keep trusting your players and give them confidence because in the past we have bounced back from heavy defeats and that's what we have to do tomorrow as well."

Despite losing boss Erik ten Hag, winger Antony and centre-back Lisandro Martinez to Manchester United, as well as star striker Sebastien Haller to Borussia Dortmund, Ajax have won five games in a row in the Eredivisie.

But manager Alfred Schreuder is wary of the challenges posed by a Rangers side who seem to save their best displays for European nights.

He said: "It is a new challenge for us. We have been analysing their games — they press high and try to play. You can see the hand of their coach on how they play.

"They are a very competitive team, they will try and press us in the beginning. We know Gio very well. 

"You look at his style of coaching and I don't think we have many big surprises coming. We are very well prepared."

Team news

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos is in contention for his first start of the season, but Tom Lawrence, John Souttar, Kemar Roofe, Filip Helander and Ianis Hagi are all out for the Glaswegian giants, while left-back Owen Wijndal is the only doubt for Ajax.

Nigerian defender Calvin Bassey is expected to line up for the hosts against his former club, while fellow summer signing Steven Bergwijn could make the difference in the final third.

The former Tottenham forward, 24, has six goals in five Eredivisie appearances this term.

Did you know?

Ajax have won all four of their previous competitive meetings with Rangers, winning both legs of the European Super Cup in January 1973, and both group stage meetings in the 1996-97 Champions League.

The Gers have won their last two away games against Dutch sides, including a 1-0 win at PSV to qualify for the group stage. They had won just two of their previous nine away games in the Netherlands before this.

Ajax won all six of their group stage matches last term and netted 20 goals in the process — their most in a single group stage in the competition’s history.

Rangers have won just 19% of their Champions League games, the second lowest win rate of any side to have played at least 50 games in the competition (Anderlecht, 17%). 

They have progressed past the group stage in just one of their 10 previous participations in the Champions League, doing so in the 2005-06 campaign. 

During his spell as Feyenoord manager, Van Bronckhorst won just two of his 10 meetings with Ajax in all competitions (two draws, six defeats), losing all four of his visits to the Johan Cruyff Arena as boss.