Philippe Clement evoked the spirit of Manchester United’s glory 12 months of 1999 as he tried to get better his Rangers gamers from their Champions League disappointment.
A 2-0 defeat by Dynamo Kyiv within the second leg of their third qualifier at Hampden Park on Tuesday evening consigned the Ibrox membership to the much less glamorous and fewer profitable Europa League.
Gers boss Clement described referee Marco Guida’s resolution to present Jefte a second yellow card for an aerial problem on Oleksandr Karavayev as “the worst decision I have seen in more than 30 years in football” however now has to get his gamers prepared for Saturday’s League Cup last-16 conflict with St Johnstone.
And in doing that, the Belgian drew on United’s historic treble-winning season, throughout which they gained the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League throughout 10 days 25 years in the past.
“They were really down after the game and the day after, but it’s part of the story in football,” mentioned the previous Monaco boss, who revealed left-back Ridvan Yilmaz can be out for 4 to 6 weeks after being carried off on a stretcher on Tuesday evening with a thigh damage.
“You will have moments like this and it is even worse once you play a very unhealthy sport and also you exit.
“That was not the case. So there have been the circumstances and I do not wish to go into that once more, but it surely was clear for everyone all around the world.
“I get so many messages from all over the world about this red card. So that was clear for everybody and it changed the game.
“However like I mentioned, after the sport you can not flip that again. UEFA won’t ever say ‘OK, we’ll replay the sport’.
“So that’s done, that’s finished and it’s our job, that’s my responsibility, but for sure the players also, to react in the next game and to win that one.
“That is soccer. That is the a part of the story of Rangers and that is part of each membership on this planet.
Rangers’ Jefte pleads his innocence after his pink card
“And a few months ago I saw this documentary ’99’ about Man U.
“I used to be fascinated about that the day after our sport. So that they (United) had been actually down that first sport. Dropping the Charity Defend towards Arsenal 3-0, not touching a ball, or the sensation of not touching the ball.
“But they reacted later on as a team with a lot of young players who had to learn that and with several very important players like Roy Keane guiding them.
“So that is what we have to do the subsequent weeks, the subsequent months, to make the story higher and higher.
“And that’s what I’ve seen also in the last three weeks, that the squad is getting better and better.”
Clement is not going to be trying exterior Ibrox for a alternative for Yilmaz, who joins midfielder Nicolas Raskin and attacker Oscar Cortes on the therapy desk.
The Gers boss has summer time signing Jefte in a position to take over in addition to 21-year-old academy graduate Robbie Fraser.
Ridvan Yilmaz was compelled off throughout Rangers defeat to Dynamo Kyiv
Clement mentioned: “Ridvan will be out and I don’t like to say too much in detail but it will be around four to six weeks, something like that.
“Scott Wright has a smaller drawback and he’ll in all probability not be out there and Leon Balogun remains to be a doubt.
“I don’t think we have the assets to do those things (bring in another left-back), we have to put all the focus on the positions we need for the squad for the rest of the season.
“Bringing in one other full-back now and to have Ridvan and have Jefte – and now we have a 3rd one with Robbie Fraser who has made a very good evolution within the final couple of months.
“So it is his time to take his chance and he did positive things in the pre-season.
“To provide possibilities to guys popping out of the academy can be a part of the story.”
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