Clement: Rangers have 'hunger' to shock Benfica in Europa League


Philippe Clement believes Rangers have the “hunger” to shock Benfica and progress to the last eight in the Europa League.

The Ibrox side claimed a 2-2 draw in Lisbon last week with the manager urging his team to “play above their level” to book their place in Friday’s quarter-final draw.

Midfielder Todd Cantwell is available for the match at Ibrox but striker Dujon Sterling, who scored in the first leg, will miss the sell-out return leg.

Todd Cantwell was injured in Rangers win at St Johnstone last month
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Todd Cantwell was injured in Rangers win at St Johnstone last month


“Todd is clearly not ready for 90 minutes, so I have to decide if it’s starting or not starting. I don’t want to give away too much,” Clement said.

“We know the amount of minutes he can play. He feels good and he was good in training so I’m happy to see him back.

“Dujon Sterling will not be available, it’s a minor thing but it’s too big a risk to let him play and make it more serious.

“Ross McCausland did one part of training today and we will see tomorrow how he is.

“Every day when I step into the dressing room I see the dynamic and the will that is there. Players starting or not, there is no difference – everyone is giving their best.”

Rangers' Dujon Sterling is congratulated after scoring his side's second goal
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Rangers’ Dujon Sterling scored Rangers’ second against Benfica

Clement is looking for the crowd to make it another European night to remember.

“My players are ready. I see the freshness is back, the hunger is really big and we know we have to play above our level to qualify,” the Belgian added.

“We’re going to do everything to do that and with the support of the fans that can give something extra.

“This game was sold out really fast although it’s an early kick-off, but we could have sold the stadium two or three times so that shows already how much support there is from the fans and they’re really excited for this game.

“We will be creative, the players are up to that. We are also realistic, we know it would be a really big surprise in Europe if we could take out Benfica but we are really hungry to do that.”

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