If Rangers thought that qualifying for the Champions League group phase again at last had carried them to a relaxing place where they can soak up that famous anthem and sexy names, they are being served the most vicious of reminders that these are unforgiving waters.
Regardless of the stage they are on, Rangers cannot fail to compete like this, they cannot allow such chaos in their own home and they cannot absorb such brutal beatings every week or so without it doing deeper damage. European hidings do not exist in a bubble.
If there is a reason Giovanni van Bronckhorst looked shellshocked after the 7-1 defeat to Liverpool, though, it is likely because at half-time last night it felt as if his side were on the cusp of another huge night at Ibrox. But then the match descended into a historic embarrassment.
6 minutes and 12 second hat-trick for Mo Salah after coming off the bench 🤯
Unbelievable.pic.twitter.com/9zt4UeFSX2
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 12, 2022
John Lundstram had come out fighting in Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.
The Scouser and former Everton academy kid spoke of showing Liverpool “no respect”, “coming out the traps”, “getting up against people”, “instilling a bit of fear” and using the “aura” of Ibrox, a place where “something changes in the air”.
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It flowed like something out of the Samuel L Jackson movie Coach Carter, and you believed him.
After the first half here, you still did.
But then came a 32-minute annihilation in which Rangers conceded six times and showed not one iota of the spirit that guided them on so many famous European nights in the last four years.
That spirit was there in the first half — they were pressing, harrying, winning second balls, dominating Liverpool’s forwards and switching it to their wingers, who were causing problems.
It helped them take the lead through a classy Scott Arfield goal, but after the opener, it was as if they had an adrenaline overload.
They could barely find a blue jersey as sloppy passes continued to hand back possession to Liverpool. When Ibrox is bouncing like this, it can lift your game to unknown heights but the mood can soon become panicked and untidy.
Gradually, that is what began to happen here; and then Connor Goldson, who had absolutely dominated Darwin Nunez and looked to be forming a steady partnership with Ben Davies, went off injured just before the interval.
He had tried to continue but couldn’t, and the gasp of the crowd at that moment told you how significant a blow this was.
But no matter how much of a rock Goldson is for this team or how much leadership value he brings, the subsequent collapse was unacceptable.
There are only so many times a team can capitulate before it becomes untenable.
Van Bronckhorst said afterwards that there are no excuses for a performance like we saw in the last 25 minutes. He conceded that he needed time to process the result, as he couldn’t explain the difference in Rangers’ level between the first half and the second.
This is not the first time it has happened, though.
There was the 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park in February, the 4-0 also to their Glasgow rivals last month, another 4-0 to Ajax, a 3-0 to Napoli, the meek 2-0 loss at Anfield last week and now, the daddy of them all, the club’s joint-worst competitive result in 150 years, and the only time they have ever conceded seven goals at home.
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Losing to Liverpool, Champions League finalists in three of the last five seasons, is not a shock but there are palatable ways to do so.
Even at 3-1, it would have been tolerable, given the endeavour and appetite shown in the first half, but from there they acquiesced so gently that it turned into a game where substitutes came on to fill their boots.
Last season, Ross County scored twice against Rangers in four minutes, Borussia Dortmund got two in 11, Motherwell clinched a draw after turning a one-sided game around by scoring two in 24 minutes, Celtic got a brace in eight minutes at Parkhead last month before Ajax racked up three in 16 minutes a few days later and Napoli got two in the final five minutes at Ibrox.
As weak as some of the defending was and as vacant as some players looked, most of the goals were caused by giving the ball away. Van Bronckhorst said he had told his players not to play too many short passes as it would invite Liverpool to press, but they did it repeatedly.
You cannot give the ball away this much at the top level. Passes are being telegraphed and players are not showing composure.
Records fell elsewhere. Goldson suffered an injury for the first time in four and a half years, Mohamed Salah registered the quickest hat-trick in Champions League history and Rangers conceded seven for the first time since the 1957-58 League Cup final.
To rake through history and find games that make this result look less grim, you have to go back to the formative days of football in 1886 when Rangers lost 10-2 to Airdrie, or the following year, when they lost 8-1 to Preston in a friendly.
Put simply, Rangers grew to become such a large, proud club that drubbings of this sort became a thing of the past after 1960, when Eintracht Frankfurt came to town and beat them 6-3.
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The next unwanted record looming is the worst group-stage performance in Champions League history.
That dubious honour belongs to Dinamo Zagreb, who finished with zero points and a goal difference of minus-19 in 2011-12. Rangers could outdo them as they sit with a goal difference of minus-15 with two games against Napoli and Ajax still to come.
The trip to Italy in two weeks looks particularly ominous, but Sunday’s trip to Motherwell isn’t exactly the ideal fixture for this Rangers side, which is shorn of confidence and two key players to injury.
Van Bronckhorst has come back from trouble before but this rout has left the manager another bad result away from pandemonium — again.
(Top photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)