Frustrated Rangers unable to ease mind on struggling duo for Celtic final despite 'next steps'

Philippe Clement hailed Rangers’ ambition after the Ibrox side refused to settle for a Europa League point against Spurs.

In the end, that’s what they had to be content with but only after a stunning save from former Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster denied substitute Cyriel Desssers from securing a late winner. The Ibrox manager thought the player, who also had a goal ruled out for offside, had scored a famous winner. “It was a really good action from him (Dessers),” he said. “I think it was a good save from the goalkeeper also.

“Moments like that, you need a little bit of luck. I think that's what we missed today to get something even bigger (than a point). Everybody's really happy about the performance, or pleased about the performance, and everyone who watched this game enjoyed a good football game from both sides. We needed to take the three points also, but those are the next steps.”

Rangers manager Philippe Clement and Connor Barron applaud the supporters. | SNS Group

He believes his side deserved more. He reported that the players were frustrated with a draw against a top English Premier League team. Nevertheless, a point, which leaves Rangers well positioned to qualify automatically for the last 16, also puts them in good heart ahead of Sunday’s League Cup final against Celtic.

“Football is about wanting to win,” he said. “This club is about that. And I saw the same thing in my dressing room and I'm happy about that.

“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 in the next weeks, the next months, to grow as a club, to grow as a team and to develop more.”

Rangers, who opened the scoring through Hamza Igamane two minutes into the second half, were given a jolt by Dejan Kulusevski’s equaliser with 16 minutes left. But they never stopped believing they could get a winning goal and nearly did through Dessers.

Hamza Igamane came off with a knock late on. | SNS Group

“It's a major thing in football to always restart after those moments and to continue and do what you've been doing well before and have this hunger and desire to win,” he said. “That was our strong point today. Nobody was satisfied by having a 0-0 against Tottenham and just defending and hoping that something would fall out of the sky.“No, everybody wanted to create, wanted to hurt them, wanted to defend also well with the whole team together because that remains crucial. Those were lessons that we had to learn over the last couple of months also. We're attacking together, we're defending together and we need to continue to do so.”

An injury sustained by defender John Souttar, with the defender helped off in the first half, was a source of concern afterwards. Goalscorer Igamane also looked to be struggling before being replaced by Dessers. Clement could not shine any light on their likely availability for Sunday.

“I cannot say anything for the moment, it's too close after the game,” said the manager. "I wish I could because that would ease my mind also. But it's not the case so we will see in the next two days how it is with them.”