Philippe Clement has urged the Rangers fans to replicate the Ibrox atmosphere on a European night at Hampden on Tuesday, as he said it will take a huge performance from his team to defeat Dynamo Kyiv.
Rangers kicked off their residency at the national stadium with what turned into a rather nervy win over Motherwell in the end, and while Clement was satisfied with a lot of what he saw from his men in the first half in particular, he admits they will have to take it up a level when the Ukrainians come to Mount Florida during the week.
He hopes too that the atmosphere will be cranked up another level, and that Hampden will feel like a home away from home.
When asked what sort of performance it would take to advance to the play-off round of Champions League qualification, Clement said: “A very big one.
“Comparable, I think, with Tuesday [in Lublin]. And we will need a good efficiency. You will not get 19 shots like today, or nine on target like today.
“We need to be really efficient in that game. And it's a team that showed a lot of quality the last couple of weeks. The last couple of years also, by playing together. So, yeah, we need to be on top of our game and to have everybody at their best level.
“And then to have the 50,000 behind us to push us through the difficult moments. It's always been crucial at Ibrox, and now it's important we get it at Hampden also. Although I know that the fans are a little bit further away from the pitch, and that's different.
“So, I hope that they want to shout a little bit harder then also. It gives so much energy to my team.
“It's always going to be an adaptation [playing at Hampden], of course. But that's why it's really important to start with the win, to have this feeling. And to have this connection with the fans - they were behind the team all the game. I wish we could have given them a third and fourth goal. We tried that. We didn't succeed.
“We have to become better in that also. We’ve been working hard on those things the last couple of months. And it will become better by playing more minutes and growing as a player.”
Clement was particularly pleased by the performance of Vaclav Cerny, whose stunning first half goal turned out to be the telling one in the match against Motherwell.
He expects more from the winger once he gets himself fully fit, but doesn’t yet know if he will be able to start him against Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday night.
“It's a good question,” he said.
“So, I have to see tomorrow how he reacts after this game, and to speak with my medical staff, with my performance staff, and with him, of course. I cannot make decisions now only for Tuesday. That's crazy to think about only Tuesday and then have a player out for a long time.
“I can only make these decisions the next couple of days. Not now. I have, of course, an idea in my head, but I need to be ready to adapt to that, like I've been doing already for seven, eight months here.
“Yes of course [his goal was pleasing] and not only that, also in his combination play, like you saw, his assist [against Kyiv], but also his defensive work.
“So, he's an experienced player who can help the team a lot in the way we want to play football. So it's really positive for him already, two games and a very important assist and now a very good goal. But it's what we expected from him. That's why we made a lot of efforts to get him here into the building.
“Of course we expect much more. I also needed to take him off after 55 minutes. So physically he needs to make steps in the next couple of weeks. But like I said already, the past week he came out of four weeks’ holiday after the Euros.”
Clement was also satisfied with the performance of debutant Robin Propper, despite the centre back’s own goal that had cancelled out Cyriel Desser’s opener against Motherwell.
“One defender touched the ball, the other defender touched the ball, and the ball goes right in the corner of the goal where Jack (Butland) cannot save it,” he said.
“So, it was a really unlucky goal, but it didn't create any doubt in the team.
“Like I said also last week, he had a crazy week. Coming to the UK after Brexit, it's not an easy thing. I had the experience also in that way. You have so much paperwork to do.
“He had to fly outside the country to get his visa ready and then to come back in a few days. So, he didn't have much time to train with the team.
“But you see his experience and you see his leadership and his qualities on the ball. That also gives stability for the team.”
