Rangers red card sinner John Lundstram does have a chance of being selected to play against Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final, despite drawing the ire of his manager and the Ibrox support for his role in his side’s pivotal defeat to their city rivals on Saturday.
Lundstram had already scored an own goal when he lunged into a challenge on Celtic full back Alistair Johnston and was subsequently ordered off following a VAR check. That left his teammates with a mountain to climb at 2-1 down, and they ultimately lost a match that also saw them lose hope of winning the title.
Lundstram will serve a two-match suspension, and with his contract up in the summer, he looks to have played his last league game for the club. Some fans though have called upon manager Philippe Clement to also leave him out of the showpiece showdown at Hampden.
READ MORE: Philippe Clement says Rangers injuries are only gap between his side and Celtic
When asked what he would say to fans who don’t want to see Lundstram in a Rangers jersey again, Clement said: “That you always need to see who are the best players at that moment.
!It’s easier from the sides to say, ‘this one shouldn’t have played.’ But you need to see who is playing then.
“I see the players every day, I work with them and me and my staff made decisions around that for the best of the club.
“Every fan of Rangers knows that we want the best for the club. That we want to work hard for this club. That we want to give our lives for this club, to make it better again.
“But Rome was not built on one day. We need a lot of work here after a lot of work that has been done already in the last couple of months.
“We still have a way to go but I can promise the fans I will work every minute that I am awake to make their dreams come true.”
Clement says that his Rangers team are already on their way to doing just that, with the defeat to Celtic not denting his confidence that he has set the club on the right track for success.
And he has asked the Rangers fans to stick with him, having been blown away by their level of support since he arrived in Glasgow.
“I am very disappointed about the result, of course,” he said.
“But I know what happened in the last couple of months.
“I know also the preparation of the game. I know also the scenario of the game and I know what people in the building are doing here now to make this club better. And we agree about a lot of things.
“We have had a lot of decisions around that, and I feel that this is a club that the board and the people in the building all wants to work hard to make things better. And things will become better.
“It’s not like I am determined more than ever because I was really determined when I first stepped in the building. It’s just the same. But then, you can say more determined in the way that I know the people inside the building better than when I stepped in. And that is a big thing.
READ MORE: The player that Philippe Clement won't allow to leave Rangers 'for any price'
“You know how the people are and how the fans are. They have been sticking behind the team these last couple of months after a disappointing few months.
“It’s about working hard together to make this club more and more successful. This club has come from a really deep point.
“I think it’s quite a while ago that this club was fighting for the title, for sure, when there were fans. We had one season with Covid.
“It’s now about making the right decisions and working hard all together.”
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