Philippe Clement will be taking his Rangers team to Turkey to face the mighty Fenerbahce and the Special One himself Jose Mourinho.
Whilst this will be the second time that Rangers have faced Fenerbahce, it’s the first time Jose Mourinho will ever take a competitive team to face the Gers.
Mourinho was in charge of Chelsea during a famous 2-0 Rangers friendly win over the Blues in 2007 but has never faced the Gers competitively.
Similarly, Philippe Clement is yet to face Jose Mourinho in his managerial career and the Rangers manager insists he has big respect for the legendary Portuguese coach.
Philippe Clement on Jose Mourinho
”To be honest I think so yeah,” Clement said when asked if this would be the first time he faces Mourinho. “Ok I had Man U a few years ago but I don’t think it was him at that moment.
”It’s not a personal thing like I always said. It’s about the club, it’s about the players.
”So I’m not so busy with against which manager did I manage one moment in time.
”I think you guys will like that, love that. So he’s going to give you a lot of material probably.
”(He’s) somebody who won that much trophies.
”So there are different managers with different styles. He won a lot of trophies in a certain style.
“I like even more managers with another style but the respect is there, it’s about winning at the end and he did that at several places with several teams and winning the biggest trophies that you can win in the world.
”So yeah it’s normal to respect a lot somebody who did that.”
Philippe Clement singles out Fenerbahce stars
Away from that managerial battle with Jose Mourinho, Philippe Clement has also been reacting to Rangers drawing Fenerbahce in the Europa League.
The Rangers manager is excited about the prospect of welcoming the Turks to Glasgow in what promises to be a special tie.
”It’s an exciting two games I think that everybody is looking forward to,” Clement told the press ahead of the clash with St Mirren.
”A team with a lot of experience, a lot of quality, a manager with a lot of experience.”
Philippe Clement was also full of praise for no fewer than eight Fenerbahce players as he warned his Rangers stars they’re going to face a ‘really good team’.
”I know a lot of players also from the past,” said Clement.
“So yeah if you see (Edin) Dzeko, (Filip) Kostic, (Sofyan) Amrabat, Fred, also some guys who played in France like (Alexander) Djiku who played in Strasbourg really well.
”Osayi-Samuel also a lot of experience, a long time there, the goalkeeper also from Croatia there (Dominik Livaković).
”So it’s a really good team. For Hamza also it’s interesting to play against a really good Moroccan striker (Youssef En-Nesyri).
”It’s also a stadium with a lot of passionate fans like we have so I think everybody’s excited for this game.”
