RANGERS boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst spoke to BT Sport after the Champions League group stage defeat to Ajax.

Here is everything he had to say. 

What was said to your players at full-time? 

“It was a disappointing result. I think in the last five minutes when you score to make it 2-1 you might think we could maybe get a point if we put the pressure on them and try to create chances, but in the end it was really quick. The moment we won the ball and we lost it again, and in four seconds we conceded to make it 3-1. Overall, it was a difficult match for us. We really tried to press them and you could see the difference in energy levels. They had no game at the weekend and were much fresher than we were. To compete against Ajax we needed to have the pressure moments but we weren’t able to create those moments and lacked a little bit of the energy to keep the pressing high.”

James Tavenier mentioned the fight and hunger that Ajax showed, perhaps in comparison with the fight and hunger your players had the energy to show. That maybe won't wash well with the Rangers fans who expect to see those energy levels high, what would you say to supporters? 

“They had six days off. Their league is thinking about their players. They played their last game last week on Wednesday so they came here really fresh. Of course, we played a game, and we had some injuries so it was tough today. We tried but these are teams who have competed for several years on this level and it is our first year.

You mention the league in the Netherlands helping those teams that are competing in Europe, is that something that you feel doesn't happen enough here in Scotland? 

“I mean helping, that's from the league. You asked me the difference, they haven’t had a game on the weekend. That’s the difference. I’m not saying we need help. I just say they had a free weekend.”

First team in Champions League to have goal difference of minus 20, is that just a reality of where Rangers are as a new competitor in this competition? 

“Those are the facts, I cannot change the facts. We were pushing really hard to qualify for the Champions League. We achieved that but we struggled and need to learn from it and try to qualify again next year and then obviously have to do it better than this year.”

What will you and your players take away from this campaign? 

“The level we face is there for everyone to see. We could cope in parts of the games. We haven’t coped for 90 minutes throughout the whole campaign and that’s something we have to learn. It’s not easy but as a development, as a team, we need to make sure we are there for 90 minutes to have a chance to get results but in this campaign, we lacked that.”