The Light Blues will host Alfred Schreuder’s side to a sold-out Ibrox tomorrow evening in their final fixture in the group stages of the tournament, and the Dutchman took time to reflect on the challenges faced during their European run this season.
Speaking to the press as they prepare to take on the Eredivisie champions, he said: “I can only speak for my team, we’ve had a difficult run in Europe this season in the Champions League and we have the last chance tomorrow to have a positive result, that’s what we are trying to do and that’s all that matters tomorrow.
“We knew the opposition that we are facing in the Champions League is of a much higher level than what we faced last season. It’s been really tough, once we qualified after PSV, I knew that it was going to be a really tough European season. You want to always have the highest level of opponents, that’s what you want as players and club – you want to be at the highest level as the opposition is quite strong.
“The group is very hard; you can see Ajax only have three points whereas they had a 100% record last season in the Champions League – you can see the level in Napoli and Liverpool shown in this group. It will be a very hard game as Ajax are a very good team.”
Van Bronckhorst recognised the challenges presented within each fixture of their group stages but reiterated that the squad will remain solely focussed to deliver a positive display in front of the loyal home support.
He continued: “We need to be focussed because there are a lot of moments in this campaign where we were getting punished because we weren’t 100% over the 90 minutes. We need to have our levels over the 90 minutes, that’s what’s expected in the Champions League.”