Rangers slipped to a 2-1 defeat against AFC Ajax in their latest friendly clash to wrap up their pre-season programme in the Netherlands.
Following the goalless draw with Standard Liege in midweek, manager Philippe Clement made six changes to his starting XI as the Belgian continues to ramp up his squad’s preparations ahead of the new campaign, with valuable minutes given to several players returning from injury. There were three notable absentees from the matchday squad with skipper James Tavernier, Todd Cantwell and Oscar Cortes playing no part in the game.
The Dutch giants bossed the tempo of the game early doors and Gers keeper Jack Butland had to produce an excellent diving save at his near post to push Chuba Akpom’s powerful header behind for a corner. Rabbi Matondo posed Rangers biggest attacking threat during the opening 45 minutes, with the Welsh winger almost finding the corner of the net with a curling strike from a quick counter-attack before the deadlock was eventually broken after 26 minutes.
The Ibrox side were caught off guard from ex-Liverpool and England midfielder Jordan Henderson’s quickly-taken free kick, which led Butland to wipe out Kenneth Taylor. The referee opted against awarding a spot-kick, with Kian Fitz-Jim well positioned to roll the ball into an empty net.
Rangers responded well as Cyriel Dessers dragged an effort narrowly wide of the target before Clement’s men hauled themselves back on level terms on 32 minutes through a Tom Lawrence free-kick from 20 yards low into the bottom corner.
The Eredivisie outfit regained the lead six mins before half-time when Branco van den Boomen’s curling free-kick slipped under the body of Butland, who gave himself too much to do. And the Gers suffered another blow moments later as midfielder Nicolas Raskin had to be helped off the pitch through injury on the stroke of half-time.
Both manager’s decided to ring the changes after the interval, which unsurprisingly disrupted the flow of the match. The lively Scott Wright was denied at close range by Ajax keeper Diant Ramaj on two separate occasions as the visitors pushed forward in search of an equaliser. Brazilian striker Danilo was then introduced for the final 15 minutes - marking his return to action for the first time since December last year.
Sub keeper Liam Kelly was called into action in the closing stages, firstly diving across to his left to keep out Julian Rijkhoff’s ferocious goal-bound header before producing another top reaction save to deny Anton Gaaei from close range.
A number of familiar Ibrox heroes were in attendance, with Michael Mols, Ronald de Boer, Arthur Numan and Bert Konterman among the interested spectators watching on from the main stand of the Sportpark Mulderssingel in Wezep. Up next for the Light Blues is a pre-season glamour friendly with Manchester United at Murrayfield Stadium next weekend before two further warm-up games against Birmingham City and Union Berlin.
Here is how we rated the Rangers players from a challenging workout against Ajax as 23 players utilised.