Rangers will be without two of their most in-form players when Philippe Clement’s team hosts Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur in Thursday’s Europa League clash at Ibrox.
Danilo and Ianis Hagi were left out of Rangers’ European roster back in September.
A decision Philippe Clement admits looks like a bit of a ‘pity’ now, even if the Belgian remains insistent that the decision he made back in September – when Danilo was struggling for fitness and Hagi was out of favour – was the right one given the ‘circumstances’.
Clement confirmed, during his pre-match press conference, that the visit of Spurs will come too soon for Tom Lawrence, Rabbi Matondo and Oscar Cortes too.
But, still, Rangers tally of unavailables is nothing compared to Ange Postecoglou’s mile-long injury list.
- READ MORE: Rangers Europa League Record Since 2017
Ange Postecoglou highlights Tottenham nightmare ahead of Rangers clash
The former Celtic boss, heading back to Glasgow for the first time since leaving Celtic back in 2022, will be without his first-choice centre-back pairing of Cristian Romero and Micky van den Ven.
The defensive duo both suffered setbacks during Sunday’s calamitous 4-3 defeat by Chelsea. Ben Davies is also out. That leaves Radu Dragusin, who spoke alongside Postecoglou during Wednesday’s presser, as Spurs’ only senior centre-back.
As such, the straight-talking Aussie may be forced to throw 18-year-old Archie Gray in at the deep end, the teenager likely to be given the unenviable task of stopping Rangers’ rampaging frontman Hamza Igaman in his tracks.
“[The injury situation is] not much better. With the weekend’s fallout, Romero and Van de Ven, we’re still getting clarity over the injuries,” Postecoglou sighed. “But we’re going to be without them again.
“At the moment we’re still trying to get timelines on [Romero and Van de Ven], so I wouldn’t put a time on it yet. I have to get creative. I think Archie is the one at the moment we have to get to fill in there. He has done right-back, left-back for us during pre-season.
“We have still got five or six games to navigate [without our first-choice backline], and may have to get creative.”
Spurs cannot call upon Cristian Romero to stop Hamza Igamane
Romero lasted only a few minutes on his long-awaited return to the Tottenham XI in that London derby clash with Chelsea. The World Cup winner paid the price for an ill-advised backheel inside his own penalty area, Romero having now played his final game of 2024.
“He was very emotional. He hasn’t been able to help us on the pitch,” Postecoglou adds. “We’re going through a tough time [but] he believes in what we’re doing.”
Hamza Igamane fired Rangers past Nice last time out.
With four goals and an assist in his last four matches – Igamane netted a stunner against Ross County over the weekend too – the £1.7 million summer signing from RAF Rabat will make for rather daunting opposition for a Spurs defence stretched to breaking point.
Igamane’s fearsome physicality, his impressive hold-up play and his penchant for the unexpected means Gray, in particular, is likely to endure a pretty testing night in an unfamiliar centre-back berth.
Rangers and Tottenham both have ten points to show from their five Europa League matches thus far, with three wins apiece.
A win for either side at Ibrox would take them a long way towards securing knock-out stage football in the New Year.
