Malik Tillman says Rangers are determined to raise one last smile at the end of their miserable Champions League trudge.
It’s been a brutal, soul-destroying return to Europe’s top table for the Ibrox men with one huge beating followed by another. Five games in to their Champions League campaign and Gio van Bronckhorst’s shell-shocked squad has shipped 19 goals, scored just one and currently sit rock bottom of Group A without even a point to show for their efforts.
They now have one last chance to put something on the board when Ajax come to Glasgow next Tuesday. Fail to do that, however, and the Light Blues face the ultimate humiliation of joining Dynamo Zagreb in being branded the worst team to have ever reached the group stages. In 2011, the Croatians found themselves in a group along with Real Madrid, Lyon and Ajax and found it just as tough going as Rangers have this year finishing pointless and with a goal difference of minus 19.
Topping that would be an almighty slap in the face for the Ibrox faithful but Tillman is determined to avoid such a dreaded fate and raise some much-needed cheer against next week’s Dutch opponents.
The American midfield ace said: “We want to win every game and go into every game aiming to do that. Especially at home, we want to bring the joy back to our fans and for us as well and get a positive result.
“No way (do we want that record). Everybody is going to be motivated to finally get a win in the Champions League. It’s a massive game for us again and a big challenge. We’’re going to look forward to it and try to win it.”
For all the tortured agony Gers have been through, they’ve not yet had their Europa League hopes snuffed out. But it will take a comeback of epic proportions for them to take third place off Ajax, who hold a huge lead in the head-to-head standings after their 4-0 win in Amsterdam in their Group A opener.
Never say never, says Tillman but not with much conviction. “We go to the game to win it and if it happens, it happens,” said the on-loan Bayern Munich ace. We’ll try to do our best as we could still reach the Europa League so I that’s our aim.”
In a campaign that has been filled with harsh lessons, Napoli put on another devastating example of attacking football. Giovanni Simeone’s first half double did the damage and allowed Luciano Spalletti’s team to canter through the rest of the game.
Leo Ostigard’s header put the seal on this latest night to forget but Tillman reckons it might have had a happier ending had Alfredo Morelos managed to take one of three big chances that fell the Colombian’s way. He said: “It’s pretty hard to take. Those goals that we conceded were not well defended.
“But we created chances in the first half and in the second half that we could have scored but didn’t, so all in all I’d say it was a bad night. However, we did create some chances so I think we can look forward to next week and the weekend with confidence.
“In the Champions League you have to be clinical in front of goal, even if you’re like us and are a bit of a smaller team in the Champions League. You have to take those chances to get some points and to take something from the game.”
It’s now 11 years since Rangers last managed to record a Champions League group win. But Tillman is refusing to dwell on this year’s disastrous record.
He said: “In football and in general you always have to look forward because you can’t change the past. You always learn from these defeats, from these games.
“It’s a big experience for everyone in this team to play in the Champions League. We have to improve and keep moving forward.
“You can always learn. Even teams that win games learn from the experience. This is a massive experience for everyone.”
The task of taking on the Eredivisie giants won’t be made any easier with John Lundstram suspended after taking a needless booking for a petulant tug on Tanguy Ndombele. But Tillman believes Gers still have enough firepower to fire one last shot
He said: “We have some injuries that might means we have some guys missing but the team we have is good. The players who came in today that were new played a good game. We always have to improve and play the best that we can, and give everything we have for such big games.”
READ NEXT
