Rangers manager Philippe Clement is familiar with one player in particular ahead of the Europa League clash with Malmö.
Whilst the likes of Erik Botheim and Anders Christiansen have stolen the headlines ahead of the clash in Sweden, it’s another Malmö forward with whom Clement is familiar.
The Rangers manager has also spent time in charge of Waasland-Beveren, KRC Genk, Club Brugge and AS Monaco and it’s in his first job in Belgium where he met Isaac Kiese Thelin.
Ahead of the Europa League clash between Rangers and Malmö, Philippe Clement has been touching on his relationship with the Swedish striker.
Philippe Clement knows all about Malmö striker
Back in 2017, the now 32-year-old Isaac Kiese Thelin was turning out for Belgian side Anderlecht.
But after Beveren sold first-choice striker Zinho Gano to KV Oostende, Clement moved to bring the Swedish striker in on loan.
It was a productive season for Thelin under the Belgian manager too, the striker scoring 19 league goals as Beveren finished 12th in the Belgian Pro League.
Asked about his relationship with his former striker, Philippe Clement hailed Isaac Kiese Thelin and claims he’s already told his Rangers team all about the forward.
“I took him on loan after the club sold my striker after the first three games of the season,” Clement told the press ahead of the clash in Sweden.
“Isaac came from Anderlecht on loan and he did a really good job.
“I like him really much as a player but also as a person. He’s a great person, he’s a great team player. He works really hard, he scored a lot of goals with me also.
“So it was really important that season to get really good results to grow with that team above the level that they had before.
“I know him well so I know his strong points. I will talk about that, we’ve done already, like we do with every player. There’s no difference with that.
“These days you can see so many games, you can go so deep and analyse because you have also a team of analysts in your club.
“So in that way it’s not a big difference with knowing a player from before or seeing him on a video.
“Of course (we talk about weaknesses) but every player has his strong points and his weaknesses, otherwise they would not play in Malmö or Rangers but in a much bigger team.”
Rangers must halt 18 goal hitman in Europa League
Malmö star Isaac Kiese Thelin goes into the Europa League clash with Rangers on fine form, and he’s not the only one.
The Swedish striker scored in the Allsvenskan champions’ thumping 4-0 weekend victory over BK Hacken and he has 18 goals in 25 games this season.
It’s an impressive return and Philippe Clement will have briefed his Rangers defenders on the best way to handle the form hitman.
Rangers however will be determined to play their game in Sweden and impose themselves on the Scandinavian side as they look to get their Europa League campaign off to a positive start.
Malmö manager Henrick Rydstrom has also been turning up the heat heading into the Rangers grudge match after the Swedish side trolled the Gers on social media.
