PHILIPPE Clement has urged his Rangers players to treat Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland the same way his Monaco side dealt with the Paris Saint-Germain front line of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar – by focusing on themselves.
The Ibrox club will need to nullify the threat posed by on-form Tynecastle skipper Shankland in a cinch Premiership match in Govan this afternoon to rack up a win which sends them five points clear of Celtic.
The Scotland internationalist has scored seven times in the six games he has been involved in since play resumed after the winter break last month and taken his personal tally for the 2023/24 campaign to 26.
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Clement, who was linked with a move for the 28-year-old during the January transfer window, is an admirer of the former Ayr United, Dundee United and Beerschot forward and has been impressed with his strike rate this term.
However, he is keen for Rangers, who moved to the top of the Premiership for the first time in two years last Sunday when they beat St Johnstone 3-0 in Perth, to concentrate on their own game just like Monaco did when they faced PSG last season.
His Stade Louis II side drew 1-1 with the French champions away when Mbappe, Messi and Neymar all started - and then racked up a 3-1 win over the expensively-assembled capital club in Ligue 1 at home.
“It is not only to be focused on him and forget the rest because then there will be other guys who make the difference. We never go into games thinking about one player.
“I played with my team last year against Messi, Neymar and Mbappe in the same game, but we were not focused on them, we were focused on our way, how we need to play and how we need to stop them but using them also to attack. That worked in a good way. It is always my philosophy to be more focused on ourselves.”
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Clement continued: “Hearts is a team with a lot of quality, a team who is well organised, that counts on a very important player to score goals. It is the third best defence until now in the league, which proves that they are well organised and they are not afraid to wait to pick their moments.
“For us it will be to break open that wall, to be dominant, but not be naïve and not to get transitions, not to get set pieces because they are strong in that also. And play our normal game with our fantastic fans behind us in Ibrox.
“That is also a major thing that gave a lot of energy in the last couple of games. I expect a crowd also who is really supportive of the team from the warm-up until the end of the game and to push the players toward their best level.”
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