Napoli Ruthless in Fifth Defeat of Rangers to Maintain Perfect Record

Rangers suffered a fifth consecutive 3-0 Champions League defeat at the hands of an accomplished Napoli, but escaped without any significant damage to their brittle confidence.

Giovanni Simeone’s brace in the opening 16 minutes had portended a chastening contest for the Scottish Premiership side, and the Serie A leaders added a late third through Leo Ostigard.

However, Rangers can take solace from the fact there is some slim arithmetic hope of prolonging their campaign into the new year after Liverpool beat Ajax.

That said, the Ibrox side would have to better the 4-0 margin meted out by the Dutch at the very start of this group stage when they meet in Glasgow next Tuesday to reach their usual comfort zone of the Europa League.

Ajax, surely, won’t be as good as this Napoli side, though. Few in Europe are right now.

Even with Luciano Spalletti exploring some of his lesser-heralded options, the Italians were playing a different game to their willing, but fatally ill-equipped, visitors.

And the way it started was entirely in keeping with a wretched campaign for the Ibrox side. A lapse in concentration 11 minutes in. Bang. Giovanni di Lorenzo slices a pass around Ben Davies and into the path of Giovanni Simone. Bang. The striker’s finish is ruthless.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst spoke pre-match of his side “collapsing” after conceding in recent times. The memories of Ajax and Liverpool remain raw.

Time to take a breath, keep your shape, don’t do anything daft. Don’t allow Mario Rui to flash a cross in from the left. Don’t allow Simeone to dart between two defenders and thump a header away from Allan McGregor. They failed to play to game plan and therefore, suffered the three nil loss.