Gutted Giovanni van Bronckhorst admitted the gulf in quality was obvious as his Rangers side slumped to a third Champions League defeat on the spin against Liverpool to leaven them without a point or a goal in Group A.
But the Dutchman insists the Light Blues can learn from their latest loss as he set his sights on hauling themselves off the bottom of the section in the second half of the campaign to secure European football after Christmas. Trent Alexander-Arnold netted a stunning early free kick before Mo Salah added a second from the penalty spot after Leon King fouled Luis Diaz inside the box.
Allan McGregor was in inspired form as he denied £85 million man Darwin Nunez on four occasions as well as other huge saves, including an exquisite save from Diogo Jota. But even the veteran couldn’t prevent another loss as the English giants inflicted Gers’ third straight group defeat at Anfield ahead of the Battle of Britain return against Jurgen Klopp’s men at Ibrox next week.
However, Napoli’s 6-1 thrashing of Ajax means Rangers could still take it to a final day shoot-out with the Dutch side for third spot but Van Bronckhorst knows they have to pick up after this latest humbling.
Van Bronckhorst said: “The gap is obvious. You only have to look at the squads we both have - we’re competing against one of the best sides in Europe. That doesn’t mean you have to lose the game. We competed well against a strong team. We defended set pieces really well which is very hard because they take it really well.
“We will learn from this game. My players personally and we should take the experience into the next game. We improved in the way we played from the first Champions League game but the level we face is very high and the level we had today wasn’t good enough to get something out of that game.
“It’s a very difficult group with teams who are from a high level. You see the big defeats in this group stage and we have to focus on being in Europe after the break. It means the results have to come our way and we have to get points in the next two games to have a chance to play Ajax in the last game and hopefully qualify for Europe after the World Cup.
“We knew it was going to be a very difficult game with the attacking threat they had with players making runs almost every time they had the ball and had the space. For us the option to play with five at the back was a good one to narrow those spaces.
“Of course you know it’s going to be difficult because they have the quality to play with high speed, quick passing and quick switch of play. It was only 1-0 at half time and we identified the moments much better in the second half to go high up the pitch and give pressure to them.
“Those moments were far better and more frequent in the second half than in the first. It’s always disappointing to lose two goals two set-pieces. One free kick they took really well and the penalty.
“We had some chances to make it 2-1 - one ball was cleared from the line and Antonio had a chance, he should have taken the shot earlier and we might have got more out of the game.
“We always have the belief, I saw it in my players. It’s a level, especially in the first half, we made too many mistakes in our passing and first touches. You knew the pressure was there. We did much better in the second half.
“Of course we had the belief. It always starts with belief. We were still in the game at half time and in the first game we were already out of the game. We played really well against Napoli and had it difficult after the red card.
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“Don’t forget the opposition. Everyone thinks it’s Liverpool, they’re out of form and it will be an easy game. But you see the level they can reach. We prepared for that level.”
McGregor was singled out for praise. Van Bronckhorst said: “ Allan McGregor performed really well. We know he can perform in this level. He had some good saves. It was very positive to see his performance and also Leon King, 18-year-old defender from the academy and he was one of our best performers and Ben Davies with his first 70 minutes of the season coming back to Liverpool performed really well. There’s always positives.”
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