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Glasgow Live
Sport
Ben Banks

Giovanni van Bronckhorst in bleak Rangers Champions League admission as he provides Tavernier update

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst says his side can't be expected to compete with some of the teams involved in the Champions League.

The Light Blues boss has had his recruitment over the summer put under the microscope after sobering 4-0 losses against Celtic and Ajax, finding themselves 3-0 down at half-time in both. Their most recent hammering was in a Group A opener with the Dutch champions, where Edson Alvarez, Steven Berghuis and Mohammed Kudus all netted.

Steven Bergwijn added insult to injury late on in the game and with Napoli and Liverpool still to come twice on top of a rematch with Ajax in this section, Van Bronckhorst says the competition is challenging due to the financial gap between clubs. He told BT Sport: "To compete in the Champions League you need hundreds of millions, otherwise you can't compete. Look at all the squads we are facing now.

READ MORE: Rangers haven't replaced surprise player as Kris Boyd sends 'fingers burned' Aaron Ramsey message

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"Ajax sold some players for over £200 million. Liverpool as well. For us to compete with that, it's too much to ask. We want to compete.

"We want to compete with the squad we have and are able and capable of making. We knew it would be tough and that showed."

Captain James Tavernier came off at the break, Van Bronckhorst adding: "Tav had a knock a couple of weeks ago. He was struggling a little bit with his fitness. It was good to change him as you could see he was struggling in the first half."

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