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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Philippe Clement confirms Rangers left-back crisis for Sparta Prague match

Philippe Clement has admitted Rangers will have to shuffle the defence against Sparta Prague with three possible left-back options unavailable.

Borna Barisic, Ridvan Yilmaz and Dujon Sterling are all out of contention to feature in the Europa League match on Thursday evening.

Barisic is out through injury and is not expected to return until next week. Yilmaz is not eligible having not been registered to the Europa League squad and Sterling is also nursing a knock.

It means Rangers will be forced to alter the backline to face Sparta Prague with the three players unable to feature in the match.

The defensive concern could see Adam Devine handed an opportunity on the European stage with Ben Davies another possible candidate to slot in at left-back.

In his press conference, Clement said of the situation: "I look for solutions so there will be another player to fill the left-back position and do the job for the team.

"I expect everyone to work together - whoever steps in will be able to do the job.

"We hope to get Borna Barisic back by next week - the timing is not ideal because Ridvan [Yilmaz] is not in the Europan squad and Dujon [Sterling] is injured."

On the match, Clement added: "We need to show a better level as this is a quality team that is good on the ball. We need to be on our toes and on European evenings you need to be focused and take your chances.

"We always play to win, regardless of home or away, and that is what we want to do - but if we can win here then that is a big step in our group."

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