Hamza Igamane and John Souttar face Rangers injury sweat for Celtic as prognosis 'too early to assess'
Proud Philippe Clement insists his resurgent Rangers are heading to Hampden full of energy and belief after leaving Spurs shell shocked at Ibrox.
Former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou was back in town on Thursday night and was relieved to escape with a 1-1 draw after being more than matched by a supercharged Light Blues side on an electrifying evening. Gers left the Premier League big guns stunned as they stormed ahead thanks to Hamza Igamane’s sumptuous strike 90 seconds into the second half.
Swedish star Dejan Kulusevski dragged the North Londoners level but the knackered hosts found a second wind and almost stole it at the death through substitute Cyriel Dessers. The point - which secures Rangers place in the Europa League play-offs with two games to spare - now sets Clement’s holders up nicely for Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final against Celtic.
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His team have been left trailing in the Premiership by the Hoops but the Ibrox gaffer reckons anything is possible this weekend. The buzzing Belgian said: “We're going to recover as fast as possible and best as possible and we're going to throw all our energy into that game at Hampden to give our fans again the good feeling that they had last season in this League Cup.
“And it's good in that way also, this good performance that players can have the next couple of days, also a lot of belief in what they are doing individually and also together to play a really good game against Celtic. I'm very proud about the performance because it's the way we want to see football being played.
“Also if you see where this group of players is coming from, from scratch a few months ago and making performances like this now. So it's a big big step forward. To dare to play in that way against Tottenham without belief is impossible. If there's one player on the pitch who doubts about it, everything falls apart.”
But Clement admits he was gutted to see his side denied a famous win as Fraser Forster’s last-gasp heroics foiled Dessers before the Nigerian saw a second goal chalked off for offside. He said: “Yeah, it was a really good action of him. I think it was a good save of the goalkeeper also. I'm also disappointed that we didn't take the three points.
“That would have been even better and would have been the result that we deserve today with the performance. It's about having this hunger and desire every time with the squads and people are buying into that.
“They’re starting to understand it, the movements we want to make in every situation, what to do together. Not in every situation yet, but it's getting better and better and that's what we want.
“Football is about wanting to win. This club is about that. And I saw the same thing in my dressing room and there I'm happy about.
“I felt that they were not satisfied with the draw and with the performance, but they wanted more and they deserved also more today. So that's the right spirit and that's the spirit we're going to need the next weeks, the next months, to grow as a club, to grow as a team and to develop more.”
The only downer on a remarkable night was a first half-knock that forced John Souttar off midway through the first half. Hero Igamane also looked to be suffering as he was replaced with 10 minutes left.
Clement is now sweating on both but will have Danilo and Ianis Hagi available. The worried boss said: “I cannot say anything for the moment, it's too close after the game. I wish I could because that would ease my mind towards tomorrow but it's not the case so we will see in the next two days how it is with them.”