Philippe Clement was in no mood to use Rangers’ injury issues as an excuse ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash with Olympiakos.
Despite losing Tom Lawrence for up to six weeks due to a problem he picked up during the weekend’s 2-1 win over Motherwell in the League Cup semi-finals, and despite Oscar Cortes’ ongoing absence, the under-pressure Rangers boss is keen to take a glass-half-full approach.
Yes, Philippe Clement’s reign at Ibrox has been regularly undermined by the unavailability of several key players.
But as Rangers’ long-suffering duo Ridvan Yilmaz and Rabbi Matondo return to training, as Danilo makes his own comeback, and with John Souttar and Nico Raskin putting their fitness concerns in the rearview mirror, Clement certainly does not buy into the idea that Rangers have let loose some sort ancient curse to nobble knees and tweak hamstrings.
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Rangers boss Philippe Clement delighted by John Souttar and fitness
“We need to be realistic about [our injury situation]. I don’t think there’s one squad in the world where there are no injuries,” Clement says during his Wednesday press conference. “That’s a utopia.
“Last season, we had in a lot of moments 12 players out. That’s never been the case this season. So there are changes made in staff, in the way of working, in a lot of things. And we start to see also the benefits of that.
“For example, John Souttar in his career never played so many minutes as he’s doing now. Never. Before, he always had injuries in those moments and there are other examples also in that way. So there are good steps made.
“We still have to make steps to make the team in general more robust. I’m happy to see some players back.
Souttar was restricted to only 13 appearances in his debut Rangers season due to a troublesome ankle issue.
Flash forward to 2024, and the in-form centre-back is ready to make an 18th start out of a potential 19 when the Glasgow giants kick off in Piraeus on Thursday looking to move three points closer to promotion out of the Europa’s league phase.
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Nicolas Raskin puts nightmare 2023/24 campaign behind him at Ibrox
Raskin was outstanding alongside Connor Barron as Rangers thrashed FCSB last time out, meanwhile.
Rangers’ most effective ball-winner in the centre of the park, the belligerent Belgian will likely have a major role to play if the visitors are to disrupt the rhythm of reigning Conference League champions Olympiakos on Greek soil.
“Nico last season, he missed a lot of games,” Clement adds. “So we’re happy that we have several of those players back.
“Ridvan Yilmaz is also now training with the squad. Rabbi starts to train with the squad. The more players we have back, the better we will be with games every three days, because it’s a lot of pressure on the bodies in that way to perform every time [at] 200 per cent every three days.
“We will need all of them.”
Luckless centre-forward Danilo made only his fourth appearance of the campaign, meanwhile, off the bench against Motherwell as goals from Cyriel Dessers and Nedim Bajrami secured Rangers an Old Firm derby final with Celtic at Hampden Park.
Olympiakos boss Jose Luis Mendilibar highlighted Vaclav Cerny as Rangers’ dangerman prior to Thursday’s clash, however. With seven goals or assists in his last five outings, the Czech Republic international is a ‘special player’ in superb form.
