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Celtic too good for Rangers and Ibrox side labelled not big enough for Champions League as Gio offered sympathy

Former boss Aad de Mos says the Ibrox side are "too small" for Europe's elite competition and the Hoops are far superior domestically.

Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst as his side struggle against St Mirren
(Image: PA)

Dutch managerial legend Aad de Mos insists it would be wrong to blame Giovanni van Bronckhorst for Rangers’ plight, claiming they are “too small” for the Champions League and Celtic have “better players". The 75-year-old was a boss at the top level for almost three decades, leading Ajax to two Dutch titles in the 1980s and taking Anderlecht to the 1990 European Cup Winners’ Cup final where they lost to Sampdoria.

De Mos reckons Van Bronckhorst’s win over PSV Eindhoven to reach the Champions League group stage flattered the Ibrox side before they went on to record the worst record in history after losing all six games. But De Mos, speaking to Soccernews.nl, has sympathy for the axed Dutchman as he reckons they weren’t equipped for UEFA’s premier competition and they would have been better in the Europa League, where they reached the final the previous season. He added the Hoops are far superior domestically.

He said: "You can't entirely blame Van Bronckhorst. Rangers are always compared to Celtic in Scotland. Celtic play better football and have better players. Rangers were too small for the Champions League, they would have been better off playing in the Europa League. It was a flattered victory over PSV. In football you have no guarantees whether you stay or not, you start at zero."

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