The Dutch media have slaughtered the Ibrox Tribute Act but spared Giovanni van Bronckhorst from their fiercest attacks.
Ajax went to Ibrox on the back of four successive Champions League defeats but barely broke sweat as they found themselves leading 2-0 after half an hour.
There was no real conviction about anything that van Bronckhorst’s side tried, keeping the score-line below Liverpool levels seemed to be the extent of the home side’s ambitions.
Seeing Steve Davis and Scott Arfield paired together in central midfield was a pitiful watch- much like Alfredo Morelos’ late sitter.
When Tavpen scored in the 87th minute Ajax came up with a simple answer, popping in a third goal 90 seconds later.
Picking up on Dutch media reaction, The Sun reports:
And while the Netherlands’ 106-time capped Rangers boss was spared any outright criticism – the same couldn’t be said for his side who were savaged in sections of the Dutch media.
They said the match was a TRAINING SESSION for Ajax ahead of a bigger match with PSV this Sunday in the Eredivisie.
Rangers were frequently branded ‘poor’ with De Gerlander describing how “The national champion created a chance after a chance against the poor team of Giovanni van Bronckhorst.”
Daily De Volkskrant went a step further and branded the home side “appallingly weak”.
It wrote: “It seems as if the elimination of PSV by Rangers in the play-offs for the Champions League happened in a different era.”
And added: “The beginning and the end of Ajax in the champions competition, with many non-champions incidentally, were good. That doesn’t mean that the ending is good.
“Ajax only won the first and sixth game in the Champions League, both against the appallingly weak Rangers, trained by Giovanni van Bronckhorst, a renowned player of yesteryear.”
The title’s Willem Vissers said the game at Ibrox was merely a warm-up for domestic duty on Sunday.
He wrote: “Ajax said goodbye to the Champions League and could already train loosely for Sunday’s clash against PSV.”
Later the writer added: “Ajax – PSV is a lot more interesting in every way than the duel in Scotland.”
The Dutch league rivalry was also highlighted in De Telegraaf.
It said: “Ajax only had to stay upright for four minutes in the Scottish storm.
“With the victory, Ajax not only easily qualified for the knockout phase of the Europa League, but it also sprinkled salt in the wound of PSV, which was denied access to the group stage of the Champions League by Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his players in August and ‘robbed’ of 45 million euros.”
