Rangers risk Champions League horror record as doomsday 'worst ever team' scenario emerges

Three games in and it's been a bruising return to the Champions League for Rangers.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side have suffered a trio of losses, all without scoring a goal. Tuesday night's 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield was another reminder of the standard required in UEFA's premier competition. Only an inspired display from Allan McGregor prevented Jurgen Klopp's star-studded line-up from piling on further agony for the Ibrox side.

Such a painful start to their campaign prompts the question of whether van Bronckhorst's side could end up ranked among the worst group stage showings once their six fixtures are done and dusted. Their record so far reads P3, W0, D0, L3, 0F, 9A to give a goal difference (GD) of -9. And they have had just six shots on target. But while it's not out of the question they could rack up an all-time howler of a campaign, there's still a fair way to go as yet.

Statistically, the worst team to compete in the Champions League is Dinamo Zagreb in the 2011/12 edition. The Croats lost all six games, scored just three and conceded 22 for a -19 goal difference. Among the 20 occasions a team has finished a group stage with zero points, Zagreb have the unwanted distinction of being the only side to appear twice on the list. They also finished without a single point in 2016/17 with the added embarrassment of not finding the net even once. That makes them one of only two teams to go through all six games without scoring alongside Maccabi Haifa in 2009/10.

If Rangers fail to take any points from their last three games, two of which are at Ibrox, then they would indeed find themselves as the 20th club to lose all six, with Zagreb the only club to have done it twice. But they would have to concede a