Van Bronckhorst: Rangers not at the same level as Ajax just yet
Rangers manager, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, admits they are not at Ajax's level at the moment but can compete with them.
will face
Ajaxin the final Champions League group game on Tuesday. Ajax beat Rangers with 4 goals in September in Amsterdam.
Napoli and Liverpool both have qualified for the knockout stages from this group and Rangers can only qualify for the Europa League with a five-goal victory.
Ahead of the game, Van Bronckhorst said Rangers still can not compare themselves with Ajax.
He said:
”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.
"We have been doing well in Europe the last three years, but we are still not at the same level as Ajax.
"We are developing and that's the way it is. It is the way the differences are in Europe at the moment.
"If you see Ajax, the players overall are from a higher level, their budget is higher.
"They bought players for £100m. They bought a not bad defender (Calvin Bassey) from us last season.
"We cannot compare ourselves to Ajax but we can compete with them on the day, especially at home at Ibrox.”
Rangers returned to Champions League after 12 years this season, but they lost all of their five group games. Van Bronckhorst said even a draw against Ajax would be a positive result for them.
"The group is really hard. You can see 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.
"So that shows you the level Napoli and Liverpool have shown in this group.
"It's still going to be a really hard game because Ajax is a very good team.”
Van Bronckhorst confirmed that Glen Kamara is back in the Rangers squad but Ben Davies and Ridvan Yilmaz will be out of action for several weeks.
"Yilmaz will not be ready. He will be out for several weeks.
"He has a hamstring injury. It will definitely be after the World Cup. I don't know how long exactly but he will not be involved in the remaining games until the break.
"Ben Davies didn't train. Hopefully he will be involved at the weekend but tomorrow will be too early."
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