- Rangers face Celtic needing response after Hearts defeat and fading Premiership hopes.
- Ajax collapse shows how quickly late-season control can disappear in title races.
- Old Firm clash framed as test of mentality, belief and survival.
Rangers late-season slide has left them searching for hope amid certain failure in their Premiership pursuit.
Now last season’s dramatic Eredivisie title race in the Netherlands offers one of the clearest reminders of how quickly control can vanish at the top of a league.
Danny Rohl’s side now trail Hearts by seven points with just three games remaining and sit four behind Celtic ahead of Sunday’s trip to Celtic Park.
Following a damaging 2–1 defeat at Tynecastle, what was once a title challenge has become a fight for survival, and maintaining relevance in the closing stages.
Yet the collapse of Ajax in last season’s Dutch title race serves as a reminder that even seemingly decisive gaps can still swing when pressure, momentum and belief shift.
“It felt like the air had been sucked from the Arena”
Ajax’s season is now remembered in the Netherlands as one of the most brutal late collapses in European football history.
Ajax entered last season hoping their 125th anniversary would be one to remember.
Instead, it became a campaign that left deep scars, defined by a collapse few saw coming.
They held a nine-point lead over PSV Eindhoven with just five games remaining, at one stage boasting a 99.3% statistical probability of lifting the title.
The championship looked less like a contest and more like a formality.
But momentum shifted decisively.
Defeats to Utrecht and NEC Nijmegen, combined with a damaging draw against Sparta Rotterdam, steadily eroded their advantage.
PSV, in contrast, seized their moments, including a dramatic 99th-minute winner against Feyenoord, to drag themselves back into contention.
By the final weekend, Ajax were still top, but only in theory.
A stoppage-time equaliser conceded against ten-man Groningen ultimately proved pivotal, handing PSV the advantage going into the decisive final round.
What had been control gradually dissolved into uncertainty.
As PSV surged again elsewhere, the mood inside the Johan Cruyff Arena turned from belief to resignation.
Rangers searching for a reversal in direction
For Rangers, the parallels are not exact, but the underlying lesson is clear.
Momentum in football is fragile, and narratives can turn rapidly under pressure.
Rohl’s side now head to Celtic Park knowing their own season hangs in a similar balance between mathematical possibility and psychological reality.
Defeat to Hearts has widened the gap at the top but not fully closed it.
Like Ajax, Rangers have experienced a season where control has slipped at key moments rather than one single collapse.
Like PSV, their rivals have shown the ability to capitalise when opportunities appear.
Celtic Park becomes final stand for Rangers
Sunday’s Old Firm clash is now Rangers’ final stand in terms of contention.
A win, mixed with a Hearts defeat at Motherwell would not only restore a small percentage of belief and stability but also echo the PSV lesson from last season.
A lesson that even when a rival appears dominant, pressure in the closing stages can still alter direction.
A defeat, however, would close off those margins entirely.
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Ajax’s collapse was ultimately defined by detail.
Late goals, missed control, mental fragility in key moments.
Their manager Francesco Farioli later reflected on sensing “the storm before it comes”, but being unable to stop it.
For Rangers, the warning is less dramatic but just as relevant.
Leagues are not always decided in dominance, but in the ability to manage pressure when it becomes unavoidable.
Something Rohl’s side have systematically failed to do so in recent weeks.
As Ajax discovered in Amsterdam, even a nine-point lead with five games left is not immunity.
Rangers are facing a seven-point lead with three games remaining. It looks improbable but not yet impossible.
And as Rangers now find themselves approaching Celtic Park, the reverse lesson applies.
Even when the title looks out of reach, the narrative is not always finished.
