‘Out of nowhere’ - Giovanni van Bronckhorst singles out five Liverpool players for praise

Giovanni van Bronckhorst had no complaints after his Rangers suffered a comprehensive defeat against Liverpool.

The Reds eased to a 2-0 victory in the Champions League Group A and are now on track to qualify for the next stage of the competition.

Trent Alexander-Arnold bent home a stunning free-kick in the seventh minute before Mo Salah doubled the advantage with a 53rd-minute penalty.

The loss leaves Rangers still without a win in this season's Champions League and facing going out of Europe altogether.

And van Bronckhorst was under no illusions how tough it was going to be to get a result against Liverpool.

What’s been said

The Rangers manager said: "We knew it was going to be a very difficult game with the attacking threat they have.

“They have players making runs almost every time they have the ball in space I think the plan to have five at the back was a good one to narrow those spaces.

“We know it was going to be difficult when they play at high speed, quick passing. In the first half, we were still in the game at half-time with only one goal of a difference.

“We identified the moments much better in the second half to go higher up the pitch and bring pressure on them. We did that far better than in the first half.

“Of course, it is disappointing to lose two goals from set pieces. We had some chances to make it 2-1, one ball was cleared from the line. Maybe we could have got something more out of the game. I think we have improved in the Champions League from the first game.

“But the level we face is very high and the level we had wasn’t enough to get something from the game.”

‘They can switch the play’

Rangers deployed a five-man defence to try to quell Liverpool.

But the Reds unleashed a new formation themselves, with Salah, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez starting in attack.

It meant that Klopp's men were able to dominate in the wide areas and van Bronckhorst put that down to the prowess of several Liverpool players being able to swiftly switch play.

He added: "It's definitely the quality they have. They can switch the play. Every player at the back; [Virgil van Dijk], [Joel] Matip, [Jordan] Henderson, Thiago [Alcantara] - even Trent Alexander-Arnold from the right can switch the play out of nowhere.

“We knew it was going to be difficult but it was an experience we had again in the Champions League, which is a competition we want to compete in but find it really hard with the teams we are challenging now.

“We are improving and hopefully it will take us into the Europa League after the World Cup.”