Ajax vs Rangers

Ajax and Rangers are set to trade tackles at the Johan Cruijff Arena in their opening Champions League Group A contest.

Despite losing several key players to former boss Erik ten Hag over the summer, three-time consecutive Dutch champions Ajax have enjoyed a 100% start to the new Eredivisie season (W5). Delivering action from the get-go, Alfred Schreuder’s men have been ahead at halftime in all but one competitive fixture this season. On top of that, the ‘Lancers’ are unbeaten in seven of their last eight matches in the Champions League proper (W6, D1), while their positive overall record against Scottish adversaries (W6, D2, L4) may inspire further enthusiasm among the club faithful. Indeed, Ajax won all six Champions League group stage outings last season, netting a staggering 20 goals in those wins. If that’s not encouraging enough, the Dutch heavyweights have won all four previous European clashes against Rangers.

On the other hand, visiting Rangers overcame Ajax’s arch-rivals PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League playoffs via an aggregate score of 3-2 to return to the competition proper for the first time since 2010/11. A narrow 1-0 win at Philips Stadion marked the Scottish side’s second consecutive victory away to Dutch opponents in major European competitions after only winning twice in their previous nine visits to the country (D2, L5). However, playing in the Champions League has never been easy for the ‘Gers,’ as witnessed by their underwhelming 19% win rate in the competition proper (12/62). Therefore, flying out of the traps in Amsterdam could prove vital to Rangers’ bid to progress beyond the Champions League group stages for only the second time at the 11th attempt.