Rangers manager Philippe Clement faces some big challenges ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League trip to face Malmo in Sweden.
If the Gers are to make any progress in a challenging Europa League campaign then they will need to be aiming to take full points from this trip to Scandinavia.
There are a number of lingering injury problems in the Rangers squad with the likes of Danilo and Rabbi Matondo not even included in the Europa League squad this time around.
But speaking after the 3-0 Premier Sports Cup win over Dundee, Philippe Clement admits that he’ll need to ‘find a solution’ with two of the players who are registered set to miss the trip to Malmo.
Philippe Clement confirms double Europa League blow
Rangers manager Philippe Clement was all smiles as his team returned to Ibrox.
But attentions quickly shifted to the upcoming Europa League clash against Malmo as Rangers look to get their group stage campaign up and running.
Speaking to Premier Sports come the full-time whistle of that win v Dundee, Clement has once again taken aim at UEFA whistler Marco Guida.
The Italian referee controversially showed Brazilian left-back Jefte a second yellow card in the second leg of Rangers’ Champions League QR3 clash with Dynamo Kyiv.
The decision swung the game in Dynamo’s favour, with the Ukrainians going on to win 1-0 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate.
With Jefte also receiving a one-match ban to add insult to injury, the 20-year-old left-back will not be available for selection on Thursday night v Malmo.
With Turkish alternative Ridvan Yilmaz also still injured – the 23-year-old picking up a thigh muscle injury in the same game – Clement is still looking for the perfect ‘solution’.
“It’s a pity that with this crazy decision of the referee against Kyiv we miss also Jefte on Thursday,” Clement said.
“So that’s a big blow if you see the impact that he had already the last couple of weeks.
“So we need to try to find a solution there, Ridvan Yilmaz is still out.”
Rangers fans start to see Jefte’s ‘quality’
Brazilian left-back Jefte has been one of the signings of the summer for Rangers and will be a big miss in Sweden in the Europa League.
The 20-year-old joined the Gers at the end of his Fluminense contract in the summer after attempts to cut short a loan stint at APOEL in January failed.
Coming into the squad to replace Borna Barisic, Jefte has been a breath of fresh air and was once again instrumental as Rangers dispatched Dundee.
The attacking left-back is growing by the game and Philippe Clement paid tribute to the defender come the full-time whistle at Ibrox.
“We wanted (Jefte) already in January,” said Clement. “And he wanted to come also.
“But at that moment it was stopped by his team but we stayed in touch all these months and he showed also a real desire to come and to fight for that.
“I’ve said it so many times already. It was the end of a cycle.
“We had a lot of players in the squad who were over their spirit.
“We had seven players going out of the building for free, or could go out for free.
“There were some we wanted to keep but they could make much more money somewhere else.
“So it was a hard way to start the rebuild and it’s just the start in that way. We could not do everything in one window.
“But it’s good now that people start to see the young talented players who came in, that they have quality now or for the future for sure, to become important Rangers players.
“And I understand at the beginning there is scepticism about that because players coming in who never played at this level, so fans want to see that.
“But if I learned one thing about this club is that the fans know really well what quality is and they desire quality.
“So we’ve been looking at that in the pool with the money we had, which was not much compared to other teams, to find real quality for the short term but for sure for the longer term.”
Rangers do have a number of options at left-back with academy graduate Robbie Fraser potentially set to receive the nod from Philippe Clement.
The Gers could also use Ibrox utility man Dujon Sterling in the position, with the natural right-back having switched sides in the past.
