Philippe Clement evoked the spirit of Manchester United’s glory year of 1999 as he tried to recover his Rangers players from their Champions League disappointment.
A 2-0 defeat by Dynamo Kyiv in the second leg of their third qualifier at Hampden Park on Tuesday night consigned the Ibrox club to the less glamorous and less lucrative Europa League.
Gers boss Clement described referee Marco Guida’s decision to give Jefte a second yellow card for an aerial challenge on Oleksandr Karavayev as “the worst decision I have seen in more than 30 years in football” but now has to get his players ready for Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup last-16 clash with St Johnstone.
And in doing that, the Belgian drew on United’s historic treble-winning season, during which they won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League across 10 days 25 years ago.
“They were really down after the game and the day after, but it’s part of the story in football,” said the former Monaco boss, who revealed left-back Ridvan Yilmaz will be out for four to six weeks after being carried off on a stretcher on Tuesday night with a thigh injury.
“You have moments like this and it’s even worse when you play a really bad game and you go out.
“That was not the case. So there were the circumstances and I don’t want to go into that again, but it was clear for everybody all over 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.
“But like I said, after the game you cannot turn that back. UEFA will never say ‘OK, we’re going to replay the game’.
“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’s football. That’s the part of the story of Rangers and that’s a part of every club in the world.
“And a few months ago I saw this documentary ‘99’ about Man U.
“I was thinking about that the day after our game. So they (United) were really down that first game. Losing the Charity Shield against Arsenal 3-0, not touching a ball, or the feeling 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’s what we need to do the next weeks, the next months, to make the story better and better.
“And that’s what I’ve seen also in the last three weeks, that the squad is getting better and better.”
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Clement will not be looking outside Ibrox for a replacement for Yilmaz, who joins midfielder Nicolas Raskin and attacker Oscar Cortes on the treatment table.
The Gers boss has summer signing Jefte able to take over as well as 21-year-old academy graduate Robbie Fraser.
Clement said: “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 problem and he will probably not be available and Leon Balogun is still 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 another full-back now and to have Ridvan and have Jefte – and we have a third one with Robbie Fraser who has made a good evolution in the last couple of months.
“So it is his time to take his chance and he did positive things in the pre-season.
“To give chances to guys coming out of the academy is also part of the story.”
