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6 mins

Ajax 0-0 Rangers

Connor Goldson is clattered by the outstretched arm of Mohammed Kudus in an aerial duel. The ref resists the temptation to brandish an an early yellow card.

Now Ajax try their luck down the right flank and Rangers captain James Tavernier does well to volley away a fierce cross before an offside flag halts the home side's momentum.

Kenneth Taylor may sound Scottish but I don't think we can claim the 20-year-old Dutchman. He's off and running into wide open space on the left but can only trundle a misplaced pass into touch.

A nice embrace from the managers...

German referee Tobias Stieler peeps his whistle and away we go.

There has been one other competitive meeting, although it wasn't officially sanctioned by Uefa, with Ajax and Rangers meeting in what was the dry run for the European Super Cup in January 1973.

Ajax had won the second of their three consecutive European Cups and Rangers were the Cup Winners' Cup holders after their famous triumph over Dinamo Moscow in Barcelona.

Legendary trio Johnny Rep, Johan Cruyff and Arie Haan scored in a 3-1 win for Ajax at Ibrox, with Alex MacDonald briefly equalising.

MacDonald scored again early in the Amsterdam leg, while Quintin Young was also on target, but Haan and Cruyff struck for the hosts, along with Gerrie Muhren.

Image source, SNS

These two have been Champions League group rivals before, going head-to-head in the 1996-97 season.

Ajax were 4-1 winners at home, with Portuguese pin-up Dani scoring twice.

Two weeks later, Arnold Scholten scored the only goal at Ibrox.

That Ajax side featured the De Boer brothers, Frank and Ronald, who would both go on to play for Rangers, along with stars like Marc Overmars, Patrick Kluivert and Edwin van der Sar, who all played in the 1995 Champions League final win.

Scott Mullen
BBC Scotland at the Johan Cruyff Arena

Now a lot of waving of white flags and chanting in time to some rock tune.

Erm. Fair enough.

Kenny Miller
Former Rangers striker on BT Sport

Liverpool and Napoli are the other sides in Group A, with those two meeting in Italy later this evening.

Scott Mullen
BBC Scotland at the Johan Cruyff Arena

It's not often you say this, but the Scottish contingent will be having to go some to make themselves heard. A fair old chanter currently coming from the home crowd.

Here come the ball boys to ruffle the big Champions League flag. Those Rangers fans have waited a long time for this.

Former Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst started his managerial career at Feyenoord, winning the title in 2017 and twice lifting the KNVB Cup.

During his four-year spell he won just two of his 10 meetings with Ajax in all competitions (D2 L6), losing all four of his visits to the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst tells BT Sport he was always sticking with Jon McLaughlin.

Asked if he was close to making a change after the Old Firm loss, he said: “Well, not close. Obviously I'm a coach who will give a lot of confidence to my players and that's what I will give to them today.

"We were very disappointed with the result at the weekend but it’s a good opportunity to show we can have another performance.

"It’s a tough loss, if you lose against Celtic the way we did its always going to be a knock. It has to feel like a knock because it's a bad result. But then again we have to look forward to the games that are coming and of course we are very excited to be involved in the Champions League.

"It means a lot, I've been involved in the competition for many years as a player and as a coach and it's a big moment for all of us to be back again after 12 years. We're going to enjoy it and I know for sure the fans will enjoy this moment as well."

Image source, SNS

Shota Arveladze played for Ajax between 1997 and 2001 before joining Rangers and the Hull City manager has been talking to the Dutch club to preview the big game.

"I think Ajax has a slight advantage and a better chance of winning. I put it at 60/40," he said.

Rangers turned a very tidy profit for Calvin Bassey, having paid a modest development fee to Leicester City in the summer of 2020.

But they might be regretting the move if the Nigeria international is anywhere close to the kind of form he was in during the latter stages of last season.

The energy generated by the 22-year-old could power a small town and he was a colossus in Rangers' run to the Europa League final.

Alfred Schreuder was brought in from a brief stint at Club Brugges to replace Erik ten Hag and the new head coach has been busy reshaping the Ajax squad.

Brian Brobbey has returned from RB Leipzig and Tottenham raked in around £28m for Steven Bergwijn.

Owen Wijndal and Ahmetcan Kaplan both cost close to £9m and Jorge Sanchez about half that.

Ajax's second biggest outlay was the £20m paid to Rangers for defender Calvin Bassey, who faces his former team-mates this evening.

Image source, Getty Images

Ajax selling players to super-rich clubs is nothing new, it's been happening since Johan Cruyff packed his bags for Barcelona in 1973.

However, this summer has seen an extraordinary exodus of talent, with Antony and Lisandro Martinez following manager Erik ten Hag to Manchester United, Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui joining Bayern Munich, Sebastien Haller recruited by Borussia Dortmund, Perr Schuurs away to Torino and Nicolas Tagliafico sold to Lyon.

All told, the fees add up to around £170m!

Steven Thompson
Former Rangers striker on BBC Sportsound

Rangers are going for a hat-trick of wins on Dutch soil after that tense success in Eindhoven and a 4-0 victory at Willem II in the third qualifying round of the 2020-21 Europa League.

Rangers were up against it following a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven at Ibrox, but Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side left the Philips Stadium with a 1-0 win just a fortnight ago, thanks to Antonio Colak's goal, which came from the smart thinking of Malik Tillman.

Tom Lawrence struck the crossbar with a fantastic curling shot, while Jon McLauchlin made a couple of vital stops in a game that really ebbed and flowed.

Image source, SNS

Ajax have suffered one reverse this term and it's a significant one since it came against PSV Eindhoven, the team Rangers beat in the play-off round.

PSV ran out 5-3 winners in a hectic Johan Cruyff Shield contest in late July.