Rangers star 'strong' enough to take vicious Celtic flak as Philippe Clement seethes over passport bungle

Rangers captain James Tavernier says he is “strong” enough to take criticism from the club’s fanbase.

The Ibrox right-back helped Rangers kick off their Europa League campaign away at Malmo with a 2-0 win, although the line of questioning from TNT Sports turned to events after the first Old Firm match at the start of this month, when Celtic defeated the Gers 3-0 at Parkhead. In the aftermath, Tavernier was heckled and verbally abused by some fans at Ibrox when the team returned from the defeat across the city.

Tavernier was quizzed on the furious reaction towards him and he said: "It's part and parcel. I am at the front, as captain. I've got to take the criticism and obviously when we are doing well we take the good things out of it as well.

"No. I'm a strong character and I can always continue no matter what comes my way. The fans obviously showed great support. As a team, we just have to move in the right direction and keep pushing forward."

James Tavernier captained Rangers to a 2-0 win over Malmo. | TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Ima

Tavernier was impressive as skipper as Rangers defeated Swedish opposition for the first time in the club’s history on Thursday at the Eleda Stadion. "We had the chances to score more but we're also delighted with the clean sheet,” the Englishman continued. "We knew they would be strong on set-pieces but I felt we dug deep to limit their chances.

"To get two goals away from home, a clean sheet and three points is a good start. We continue to work hard. We get stronger as a team. We have a young squad but they are gelling. It was a good display from us. We saw the fans coming over and we wanted to put a performance in."

The only downside for manager Philippe Clement was the absence of Moroccan striker Hamza Igamane, who was a glaring omission from the team. Stating his unhappiness at the situation, Clement revealed that “an issue with his passport” stopped him from travelling to Malmo.

"I am clearly not happy with that, there were issues with his passport,” said Clement. “Those are situations that you don't want to face as a manager but I want to focus on the football and the good things of this day."

The Rangers player take the acclaim of the visiting support. | TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Ima

Assessing Rangers’ performance in Sweden, which was crowned by goals from Nedim Bajrami and Ross McCausland, Clement continued: "In quality yes but in finishing not. It could have been perfection if we scored the three goals in the first half that we deserved, so we need to finish it off in that way. It's not errors, its part of football and I see the best players in the world not scoring with every chance.

"It's important that we create them and that the players are focused. We will keep working on that to make the quality better in our squad and to be more decisive. I think it was a good example with our second goal. A few months ago he [McCausland] didn't have power or quality to shoot with his left foot but he has been working every day to improve that with the staff. And because he did that he scored this very important goal."