Rangers boss Philippe Clement has been facing the music following the club’s desperate Champions League elimination at the hands of Dynamo Kyiv.
The Belgian manager is never one to mince his words and was very up front about his feelings regarding the performance of Italian whistler Marco Guida in the match.
Rangers eventually crashed out in a 2-0 defeat to Dynamo Kyiv after Brazilian left-winger Jefte was sent off for a dubious second yellow card with the score at 0-0.
It was a moment which transformed the match and here’s the six big takeaways from Philippe Clement as he addressed a press conference come the final whistle.
Clement in red card message to UEFA ‘bosses’
Italian referee Marco Guida found himself at the centre of the action in Rangers’ Champions League defeat to Dynamo Kyiv.
It is unarguable that the referee’s disgraceful second yellow card handed out to Jefte changed the match and there isn’t a football fan out there – other than those wearing green and white – who would agree with it.
Speaking after the game, Philippe Clement was clear that it was not only an unacceptable decision but that he expects UEFA referee chiefs to agree.
“It’s clear you have in football, and we talked a lot about that, sometimes a grey zone,” said Clement.
“And because of that VAR is there and it helps football to make it more honest, but this decision had nothing to do with grey zone.
“It was really clear there was nothing going on.
“Jefte just jumps higher, he doesn’t move his arm, his arm is next to his body. So it’s not a foul, it’s nothing.
“I tried to understand the decision and to ask but the referee stuck to his opinion about it.
“It was for him a really clear foul and a second yellow and red, so I think, no, I don’t think, I am really confident that his bosses will have another idea.”
The Rangers manager also had to tread carefully in these post-match exchanges given that he might wind up with the UEFA rulebook thrown at him.
But there is little doubt that Marco Guida is about to find himself under a lot of pressure for his performance and crucial decision-making in the match.
Whilst Philippe Clement was incensed by the call, the Rangers boss insisted it was more responsible to keep the head.
“I have a lot of things in my head but you guys know that every word I say too much I can get a ban also for the next European game,” said Clement.
“So let’s keep things in my head I think it’s the best way now and I need to be good and smart for the club, for the team and we need to move on.”
There is also the recourse for Rangers to complain to UEFA and whilst we suspect a strongly worded letter is being drafted by the club’s lawyers, Clement once again refused to be drawn on the situation.
Adding that Rangers will just need to move on because the decision will not be reversed, Rangers are not happy and UEFA will be finding out about it.
When asked if the club would make a ‘formal protest’ about the referee, Clement responded: “I don’t know.
“It depends, the club can do if it doesn’t have consequences, then it’s I think also the right way to do it.
“But if it has consequences for the club, then you cannot do it.
“I cannot also say now what I’m thinking, that’s the way the game is played.
“Otherwise it’s not good for the club also to get fined or whatever because they said something.
“Because in the end it will not be that the decision is changed and we’re going to reply. It’s never going to happen.
“So we will see what happens the next couple of days.”
‘Worst decision in 30 years’ killed Rangers ‘dream’
The Rangers manager has also been discussing the decision as a momentum killer in the match.
Rangers were dominating possession in a tight game and had begun to exert more influence in the final third before the red card in the 55th minute.
Naturally the decision swung the game in Kyiv’s favour and Rangers’ Champions League hopes looked a tall order from that moment on.
And so it proved for Clement, who analysed his team’s performance come the final whistle and claimed ‘the worst decision in 30 years of football’ cost the club and support their ‘Champions League dream’.
“I cannot say it killed the dream at that moment,” said Clement. “Because that’s the thing to be proud of.
“The players kept on going with 10 to make good organisation to try and find in the moments to counter attack.
“Before that we were dominating the game and we were creating the chances out of that.
“Not with massive chances because Dynamo is also a good team but you saw they were getting tired and we knew the last half hour we would get more space to get better chances.
“So yeah the players kept on doing what they had to do but then you get the goal against at the end and then you try to force something and you get the second goal against.
“It’s a very decisive moment and in the end it has killed the dream of a dressing room, it has killed the dream of more than 50k fans.
“You expect a better level in decision-making. This is for me is the worst decision that I’ve seen in my more than 30 years of football.”
Rangers dealt £40m transfer blow
Heading into the match with Dynamo Kyiv, Philippe Clement had claimed Rangers had two transfer budgets depending on the outcome of qualification.
There has been much made – and much more will continue to be made – about Rangers’ questionable operations in the transfer market but it’s clear Champions League football has a big role to play.
Speaking candidly about the situation come the final whistle, Clement claims that a failure to qualify for the Champions League will have a £40m impact at Ibrox.
As a result, Rangers’ expectations in the transfer market this window have now dramatically shifted.
“I told you guys this week if you go to Champions League you can do things faster because there’s £40m coming into the club,” said Clement.
“That’s not the case now.
“So it will take more time, that’s the reality, to do the things that you want to do or do the things that the club wants to do.
“But it doesn’t mean that the story stops also of course and you see it already now with young exiting players coming into the club, making steps.
“I don’t need to say all the names every time, to make value for the future to make the next steps and out of that you can get two, three other players.
“Like this we need to create a model as a club to grow.”
Clement later responded when asked about if he was as far along in the squad rebuild as expected:
“Nobody knows that, not one manager, at one moment during the transfer window.
“We need to see 1st of September where we are in that situation.”
Rangers fans to see Danilo soon
The absence of seemingly fit Brazilian striker Danilo has been a huge bugbear for Rangers fans.
Not least because the Ibrox side’s media team scrambled to delete a pre-match video of the £6m striker limping out onto the pitch.
In a strange turn of events, Philippe Clement was forced to answer questions on the Danilo clip and leapt to the defence of the hitman.
Claiming that Rangers will see more of the ex-Feyenoord forward soon, we suppose the fact the striker isn’t once again crocked can be viewed as something of a positive.
That’s even if the expensive hitman didn’t play a single minute in Champions League qualification.
“Danilo always had that kind of walk,” said Clement. “Look at the moment when he came into the club here.
“I’ve been watching him a long time. I wanted to get him to Brugge when he was in Ajax when he was not playing there and he had that walk also at that moment.
“So no one needs to worry about that. There is nothing going on with him.
“And today I wanted to put him in, that was the idea, but then the circumstances of the game where not there.
“But people will see him the next couple of weeks, they don’t need to worry about that.
“It’s just about seven months out that you need time to gain match fitness and then the right moments to get these minutes.
“It depends also from the scenarios of the game in that situation.”
Clement bites back at Cerny starting question
The omission of Vaclav Cerny before the match turned heads with the Czech winger the most exciting addition of the summer transfer window.
The Wolfsburg loanee has come into Ibrox off the back an extended post-Euros break and is still getting up to full fitness.
The only clear upgrade at Rangers this summer, Cerny came off the bench at half-time and it raised a few eyebrows as to how the ex-Ajax winger wasn’t included from the start.
Biting back at the journalist asking the question, Clement explained that the club’s improved medical department was behind the Cerny decision.
“No because we have a lot of very qualified people in the building,” said Clement.
“In the performance staff, in the medical staff, in the performance staff, to come with the right things.
“It’s also what the club needed after last season with so many injuries, to make that better, to have the right info, to make the right decisions, to make players better, to make them stronger, to give them the right moments playing minutes.
“So the signal of them was really clear not to start with him and maximum time would be to come in half time, what we did.
“So this decision we made together. He’s just a few days in the building, he comes out of four weeks of holidays.
“I understand that people who’ve never been a manager or who’ve never been a player and don’t know what a human body is that they doubt those things then.
“But that’s the reality of every manager, so, no zero (regrets), it was clearly a decision for the short-term and for the long-term.”
No update on Ridvan
Not only did Rangers crash out of the Champions League but the club’s supporters saw Ridvan Yilmaz stretchered off the park at Hampden.
The Turkish left-back has always struggled to stay consistently fit at Rangers and the sight of the defender pulling up holding his thigh was a painful one for fans.
Ridvan is now one of a number of Rangers injury problems and the situation is a real source of frustration for supporters.
When asked about the injury, Clement said: “I have no idea for the moment to be honest. So I hope not too bad.”
