Ibrox was shell-shocked come full-time last night. Still processing what it had just witnessed, mulling over the mauling and its ramifications.

“Meeting us at the right moment is not cool,” shrugged Jurgen Klopp post-match and he was right. For 45 minutes Rangers had Liverpool right where they wanted them. A memorable Champions League win felt within grasp as the teams trudged back to the dressing room level at the interval. When the same walk was made 45 minutes later Rangers were six goals worse off. A humiliating 7-1 scoreline will do more harm than dent their already damaged Champions League goal difference. 

"It is very hard to explain at the moment, I am still processing the game, the second half. I cannot explain it,” Giovanni van Bronckhorst reasoned.

"In the last 25 minutes, we were not in the game, not with our heads and the decisions we made against a team like Liverpool, with Thiago, Salah and Jota and you are not in the game you get punished."

But what happened? How could a completely competitive first half become so embarrassing? How did Rangers go from leading the game to “not being in it with their heads”? The strength in depth carried by the visitors is of course a factor but this is not the first time van Bronckhorst’s side have capitulated in-game. What will frustrate supporters even more is the reality that Rangers showed they could make a game of it up until the break and then contrived to not compete at all.

Ibrox had cackled with a restless energy only kick-off could quench pre-match. A noisy disquiet of 50,000 people who’d waited for 8pm since waking up. With Napoli’s win against Ajax keeping the prospect of post-Christmas European football alive, Liverpool’s clunky start to the season, van Bronckhorst’s record at this ground. There was just the right concoction of variables to make a result feel achievable.

You couldn’t help but sense the ghosts of Rangers’ road to Seville, not only in the stands but on the pitch. After all, this is largely the same core group of players, working to the same rhythms. Ryan Kent running, Borna Barisic crossing and a brave man-marking system in place. When Scott Arfield found the corner brilliantly to break the deadlock BT Sport’s camera shook at the might of Ibrox. Batcam peeled away to reveal a gloriously buoyant scene that played out time and time again earlier this year. Could another giant leave defeated? 

Cut to 81 minutes, as Liverpool scored their third goal in six minutes and streamed forward relentlessly with an inevitable air of goals, those nights of old felt like false memories.

John Lundstram said the difference between Champions League and Europa League football was “miles apart” on Tuesday. Miles does not tell of the gulf experienced after half-time. Realistically, the team that started yesterday's game is not stronger than the one that carried out all those famous results months ago. The competition has gone up a level but Rangers have not. It’s all very well saying signings take time to settle but if that time has elapsed at the point of four Champions League defeats, can you really argue you’ve strengthened sufficiently for the step up in class?

The second half simultaneously exposed the team’s limitations and lack of improvement. Rangers had a plan to go direct and bypass the midfield, not dissimilar to previous voyages. In the first half it kept the visitors at arm's length, in the second it invited them into the penalty box time and time again. The Ibrox side consistently gave up possession in the lead-up to Liverpool goals. Their manager bemoaned overplaying at the back but in reality, it was percentage long balls that posed his team issues and surrendered control.

It's a risk to play through the midfield and invite pressure against a team of this quality. It’s also a risk to put possession up for grabs. Rather than shut up shop when the scoring increased, Scott Wright, Rabbi Matondo and Alfredo Morelos came on from the bench. Perhaps in hindsight damage limitation, as was favoured in Amsterdam, would’ve proved wiser.

Connor Goldson’s presence has never been missed more in the heart of the defence. He was winning the battle against Darwin Nunez until injury forced him off. But tactics and personnel aside, the mental collapse was of chief concern. 

To ship seven goals at Ibrox is unthinkable and unacceptable against any level of opponent. It was by far the worst punch to the gut yet in a series of serious European body blows.