Ally McCoist insists Liverpool’s seven-goal thrashing of Rangers was a ‘shocking result’ for not just the Ibrox side, but the whole of Scottish football.
A humiliating 7-1 loss in the Champions League condemned Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team to the heaviest home defeat in the club’s history.
Equalling the club’s biggest-ever loss, to Celtic in the League Cup Final of 1957, the result left Rangers without a point after four games and ended hopes of reaching the last 16.
Coming 24 hours after Celtic became the first team to be eliminated from the competition in a 2-0 home defeat to RB Leipzig, McCoist said the Rangers hammering was the latest in an awful run of results for Scotland’s clubs in Europe.
‘I’m gutted,’ said the former Rangers boss, an analyst at the game for BT Sport. ‘Hopefully I sound gutted, because I am. It’s a shocking result for Scottish football.
‘You look at the results Hearts, Celtic and Rangers have had and they’ve not been good enough.
‘Last night in the second half was as low as I could have got. They just absolutely crumbled.
‘With 23 minutes to go it was 2-1, and 3-1 with 15 minutes to go. They just lost the plot.’
Scott Arfield’s strike after 17 minutes was the first Rangers goal in Group A.
Roberto Firmino headed an equaliser, but the sides remained level at half-time before the roof caved in on the Ibrox side in the second half.
Rangers hope to hear the outcome of scans on injured defender Connor Goldson today. The influential Englishman left Ibrox on crutches after being removed from the fray before half-time to be replaced by 18-year-old Leon King.
The hosts shipped six goals in 32 second-half minutes as Mo Salah came off the bench to smash three goals in six minutes and 20 seconds, the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history.
‘Salah came on and was ruthless, absolutely ruthless,’ McCoist told talkSPORT.
‘There was nothing more evident there than the gulf between the sides.
‘It was one of those games with 20 minutes to go where I’m looking for the referee to blow his whistle. They just crumbled. Liverpool were brilliant and we know they are capable of doing that to any team.
‘However, the way Rangers crumbled has got to be a big, big concern.’
Meanwhile, Rangers have confirmed the departure of Barry Scott from the Ibrox board. In a statement, the club said Scott had ‘resigned as a director of the Company to pursue his other business commitments. The directors wish him well in those endeavours.’