Vengeful Philippe Clement and Rangers handed perfect chance to hand Celtic bloody nose

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When Philippe Clement faced the cameras after the Premier Sports Cup defeat to Celtic, the Rangers manager broke character in abject frustration.

This wasn’t a match where his Rangers team had shown up and been beaten fairly and squarely on the pitch, rather it was another Old Firm derby where our rivals got the decisive rub of the green.

And then some.

Celtic’s generational gerrymandering and politicking surrounding referees was alluded to by the Belgian come full-time in comments which have curried favour with a frustrated support.

Time and again the Parkhead side have proven the beneficiaries of the big decisions with the Vaclav Cerny penalty that never was the latest dodgy pro-Celtic call in the fixture.

But only a matter of weeks on from when Rangers fans were increasingly calling for the Belgian’s head, the tide has begun to turn in Govan and momentum is building.

Rangers fans are increasingly behind the manager and the team is moving in the right direction.

The next step for the Belgian is dusting his talented young squad off and giving Old Firm rivals Celtic a well deserved bloody nose.

• READ MORE: Burning Old Firm issue jumps to top of new Rangers CEO’s agenda

Philippe Clement must land Celtic victory

Heading into the clash at Hampden, Philippe Clement courted controversy amongst Rangers fans by praising our Old Firm rivals.

It’s this nice and respectful approach which has often shot Rangers in the foot, with the feeling not exactly mutual across the city.

Contempt is rich in the Old Firm derby and Celtic have won the mental battle too many times before a ball has been kicked against Rangers.

We wonder if it’s an approach the Rangers manager will take heading into the seventh Old Firm derby of his tenure at Ibrox come January 2nd.

The Rangers manager is yet to defeat Celtic since coming into Ibrox and it’s a six-game record which hauntingly hangs over him in Glasgow’s southside.

Fans have bought into what Clement building and the progress is evident.

But the Rangers manager needs to prove that he can overcome our rivals and use the frustration of this result at Hampden to do just that.

Anything but victory when Celtic come to town at the beginning of 2025 is unthinkable for Philippe Clement if he’s to continuing building momentum at Rangers.

Rangers have perfect chance for Old Firm revenge

Whilst four league games are still to come before Rangers face Celtic again, the club couldn’t have asked for a better Old Firm derby to shake off the Hampden blues.

In little over a fortnight the two clubs will meet again at Ibrox in the final clash between the two which does not involve away fans.

A resurgent Rangers team, who had the odds massively stacked against them at Hampden given their exploits v Spurs in midweek, have a glorious chance to land a serious haymaker on Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Rangers proved at Hampden that the perceived technical gap between the sides is massively overstated.

It’s mentally that Celtic have proven they have the edge time and again.

If we turn up and turn it on these conditions, we will have too much for Celtic.

This Rangers team, more than ever, must feel wounded by the excruciating pain of the penalty kicks defeat at Hampden. It has to serve as motivation.

Whilst the conditions were stacked in Celtic’s favour heading into Hampden – and then reinforced by the VAR team – things will be different at Ibrox.

Rangers fans are out for revenge and heading into the game the narrative surrounding the officiating of recent Old Firm matches cannot be allowed to escape the headlines.

The pressure on referees to get the big decisions right heading into the upcoming Old Firm has to be bigger than it’s ever been before.

At the same time, the Rangers team has a glorious opportunity to land an almighty blow on their Old Firm rivals with 50k Ibrox fans now fully behind them and the manager.

It might not be a knockout blow just yet, but we have more than enough to Celtic a bloody nose and bruise their swelling egos.