Napoli 3-0 Rangers: Ibrox side facing Champions League ignominy

And so, it has come to this. Just nine weeks on from the raucous celebrations in Eindhoven and the giddy excitement of the following day's Champions League draw, Rangers have one more chance to spare themselves continental ignominy.

All the hope and anticipation has been whittled away, exposing the grim reality of trying to compete with last season's runners-up Liverpool, an Ajax team who reached the last 16 and, in Napoli, a side that might well go on and claim the big shiny pot themselves this term.

After five chastening losses, Rangers host Ajax on Tuesday knowing defeat could leave their imprint on this competition as the team with the worst group-stage performance in history.

Dinamo Zagreb - in 2011-12 - lost all six games and finished with a goal difference of -19. Rangers have conceded 18 more than they have scored.

Malik Tillman's eyes widened when the gravity of the situation was laid bare after a cautiously creditable 3-0 mismatch against Napoli.

"Everybody is going to be motivated to finally get a win," said the forward of the Ajax encounter. "It's massive for us and a big challenge. We're going to try to win it."

Defiant words, certainly, but matching that sort of talk with deed has proved beyond Rangers in Europe this season.

Liverpool have done for them twice. So too have Napoli. No disgrace in that, given the disparity in resources. Ajax are more lavishly upholstered, but the manner in which Rangers side capitulated in their opener in the Netherlands was mortifying.

Even reversing that 4-0 scoreline next week would not be sufficient for Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side to snatch third place in the section. To tread the more forgiving terrain of the Europa League after new year, they need to score five with no reply.