5 talking points as Rangers mauled by ferocious Ajax to pile the misery on Gio van Bronckhorst

Hapless Rangers were served a brutal dose of Champions League reality as their return to the big time was blown apart by rampant Ajax.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst 's toiling side have now shipped eight goals in their last 180 minutes of football as a weekend pummelling from Celtic was compounded by another disastrous 4-0 defeat in Amsterdam. Rangers' reputation as European specialists took a serious battering thanks to goals from Edson Alvarez, Steven Berghuis, Mohammed Kudus and Steven Bergwijn. As it was at Celtic Park on Saturday, Rangers were dead and buried by half-time.

An Ajax side containing Calvin Bassey simply had too much for an Ibrox side who look devoid of the spirit and quality which carried them all the way to last season's Europa League final. Those heady days will feel like a distant memory now for the travelling contingent who forked out for a trip to the Netherlands to witness their club's return to UEFA's top table for the first time in over a decade. They will return home fearful of what may now lie ahead with Liverpool and Napoli still to come.

As the fixture schedule unfolded in recent weeks, a trip to Aberdeen was very much the lesser light of a triple header that also involved Celtic and Ajax. But now? It feels absolutely monumental for the future of Van Bronckhorst's tenure.

The biggest team-sheet talking point came right at the very top, with the Rangers boss refusing to bow to pressure to drop Jon McLaughlin and reinstate Allan McGregor. But given what transpired in front of the much-maligned keeper in the opening 20 minutes, it quickly felt like a moot point. McLaughlin's outfield team-mates simply couldn't get near the Eredivisie champions for large spells, such was the pace and precision of