Rangers injury crisis laid bare as Gio van Bronckhorst doubles down on summer recruitment verdict

The post mortem began on Thursday morning. Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his beleaguered players poured over footage of their 7-1 Champions League capitulation against Liverpool.

The manager found the manner of their defeat difficult to process 12 hours earlier in front of the media. Who knows? It might not have fully sunk in before they face Motherwell at Fir Park in the Premiership at lunchtime today. But victory in Lanarkshire should at least flush it out of their system. And van Bronckhorst, who is coming under increased scrutiny from a battered and bruised Ibrox support, says that’s their only viable coping mechanism.

Winning. The Champions League i s almost a write-off now, with only a slither of hope of escaping into the Europa League. The Dutchman’s priority now has to be the league title – and wrestling the flag back off Celtic. His team’s collapse against the Premier League giants is still fresh in the memory.

But he says it’s imperative that they learn from it, improve and take their frustrations out on their SPFL opponents. As van Bronckhorst reflected on a damaging few days in the Ibrox hot seat, he said: “These are the moments when you have to get stronger, improve yourself as a manager – and learn from the things you experience.

“Eventually, you need to continue and make sure you use it to be stronger. In Europe, it’s still difficult to get points but we have a slight chance to go through to the Europa League.

“And in the league, we’re in a position where there’s everything to play for. That’s our main focus now. We have to continue. We have a league game to get three points in and Wednesday a chance to reach the semi-final of the League Cup.

“So it doesn’t stop. It’s very quick and we have to get