Philippe Clement says he was proud of his players as they battled against Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League this evening.
An injury time winner secured the points for the English side at Old Trafford, after Cyriel Dessers drew Rangers level late in the game with a superb finish.
Speaking to RangersTV at full-time, he said: “For the players it is very mixed feelings, they are gutted to lose at the end of the game. They came back and showed a great mentality, but I am very proud of what the team has done. In the organisation, in the structure, players playing out of position, several of them are young guys coming in and giving everything.
“We created chances after going behind, you can’t ask more from them and they put in a great effort, and it is a pity we never got our rewards. It would have given them a totally different feeling right now.
“It was a sucker punch at the end, and it is something we can avoid. We had done well in the first half when we made changes and Manchester United came into the game.
“In the first half we had the best chances, I am disappointed by the result, but I can’t ask for more effort. We need to dig in and prepare for Sunday against Dundee United, that’s the focus now.”
With a European debut for Finlay Curtis and a number of young players involved in Manchester, Clement praised how they dealt with stepping into that level of fixture, and the whole squad for sticking together.
He continued: “The young players feel positive with the chances they get. They get a lot of support from the staff as well as the senior players. You see this is a group that sticks together in all circumstances.
“It is easy to go behind 1-0 to Manchester United and to lose belief when you have so many young players on the pitch who don’t have experience at this level.
“We kept going and scored a very good goal, it was a great finish from Cyriel, but it is a pity we got a sucker punch at the end as the team deserved more and a draw would have been a fair result.”