Agree with your last sentence but to say Rangers should have been able to go shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Madrid , Barca, Bayern etc let alone the Italians is just plain delusional. These teams were tested weekly in their respective leagues by rivals who were vastly superior technically than what was on was on offer in Scotland at that time. You can't just switch it on and off. To get to that top 5 level you need real sustained competition, certainly not limited to 4 competitive games a season.