RANGERS and Celtic are clearly out of their depth at Champions League level. 

That is the view of former Liverpool and Newcastle defender Jose Enrique.

Rangers suffered a 7-1 pasting at the hands of the Reds last night, while Celtic also exited the group stages after another loss to RB Leipzig. 

It looks likely that both teams will finish bottom of their sections.

But Enrique caveated his opinion by claiming that it's not Rangers and Celtic's faults they can't compete at elite level.

He told Midnite: “In the first half, Rangers were not out of their depth. Then in the second half, and at home, it was different. But I don’t think you can compare.

"In the Champions League the biggest teams are there, and occasionally Celtic and Rangers can spring a surprise, but normally this is the real world and this is what happens.

“When Rangers have a good player, if they can sell him they sell him. Celtic are the same.

"For Liverpool it’s not that way, for Napoli it’s not that way. Or if they sell, they buy big again. It’s a completely different world, so it is what it is.

“Calvin Bassey, a really good defender, went from Rangers to Ajax for around £20m. So when you take out their best players, it’s very difficult for them to sign better players and stay competitive.

"Some years there is a surprise, but it’s normal for them both to go out early."

The ex-Reds player also reflected on last night's game in more detail, picking out hat-trick hero Mo Salah for special praise. 

He added: “In the first half, the team were still lacking in confidence. You could see they were trying but you could see it wasn’t happening. Then in the second half they destroyed them. You can’t really compare Liverpool with Rangers, so it wasn’t a massive test. But the test is coming at the weekend now against Manchester City.

“But I think it will be good for players like Mo Salah to score goals like that, giving him confidence, and Gomez starting at right-back because Trent is out, which is great for getting his confidence in that position. Carvalho was really good, so was Firmino. And Darwin Nunez scoring will give him confidence too. So there are a lot of positives. Apart from the result, it was about giving players that confidence. Four, five months ago they were fighting for all the honours. And now suddenly they’re bad players? They’re not.

“For Mo Salah, the big change for me was that he was playing more of a central role. But with Darwin now, it has changed for him. But hopefully with this hat-trick he can get his confidence back. But the massive test is against Manchester City."