Clement Expresses Confidence in Rangers Ahead of Scottish League Cup Final

Rangers manager Philippe Clement stated that his team possessed confidence in their ability to defeat Celtic in Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final, even prior to their strong performance in a midweek draw against Tottenham Hotspur. The Premier Sports Cup final between Celtic and Rangers is scheduled for Sunday, 15 December, at Hampden Park in Glasgow, with a 15:30 GMT kick-off. Coverage will be available on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds, alongside live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. The Belgian coach also emphasized that it was “not about me” when questioned regarding the significance of securing a victory against the Scottish champions for the first time since his appointment at Ibrox. Clement had previously indicated that Rangers were preparing for two fixtures against opponents who were “financially out of our league,” referring to their Europa League match against Spurs and the domestic final against Celtic three days subsequent. However, when questioned on whether the 1-1 draw against the Premier League team instilled greater confidence in his squad before their trip to Hampden, he responded: “If you don’t have belief, as a player of a manager, you cannot play like you did yesterday.” He added, “It starts with belief before the game – not during the game.” Clement additionally highlighted Rangers’ 4-1 away victory against Nice in the Europa League the previous month. “I know their contracts and what they pay in transfers, so it is a big difference,” he stated. “Like I said about Tottenham, it is not only about that.” As Rangers manager, Clement has encountered Celtic on five occasions, suffering four defeats, with a 3-3 draw at Ibrox in April marking the sole instance of avoiding a loss. “I think we have a more energetic squad than we did last season,” he commented. “That’s why decisions were made to rebuild the squad.” He elaborated, “You had last season a squad where we had an older squad and had less legs than the year before. We pushed out a lot last season and in the end the legs were going in maybe the last couple of weeks.” Clement believes his team has shown improvement, particularly in tactical aspects, since their 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park in September, which was the only prior Old Firm derby this season. “Last year, with less energy, we were very close and should have won the cup final,” he proposed, referring to the 1-0 loss in the Scottish Cup in May. He concluded, “The team believes it is making steps in every sense, so it is about doing that again on Sunday.” Celtic has benefited from two additional days of recovery following their 0-0 draw away to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday. “I am not busy with that,” Clement stated, while also asserting that it was premature to determine if in-form centre-half John Souttar would recover from the injury that led to his substitution before half-time against Spurs. He added, “I am just busy on recovering fast and focusing on ourselves. It is about recovery and then to pick the right squad to get some fresh legs in the team.” Clement expressed no apprehension regarding Celtic’s recent historical advantage. “Celtic are a team who are really good on the ball with a lot of quality players,” he further remarked. “So we need to play a very mature game, well organised, but we need to play our football also and create our chances, like we have been doing in the last couple of weeks.”