PHILIPPE CLEMENT believes it will be a ‘special night’ at Ibrox Stadium as his players prepare to take on English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur on matchday six of the Europa League.
With both clubs currently on 10 points from five games and the Light Blues sitting in eighth position in the league phase table and Spurs in ninth, it will be all to play for tomorrow when the two giants of British football meet at 8pm.
Rangers, of course, have enjoyed three victories over Malmo, FCSB and Nice in the competition so far, while also picking up another point following an away draw with Olympiacos on matchday four on November 7.
Clement insists his squad will go into tomorrow evening’s match with confidence but he is also fully aware that they will have to be at their very best against a star-studded Tottenham side.
He said: “It is a big challenge but that is what we like, that is what we love and that is what you want here also.
“We have already in this past year had a few really good opponents here on European nights and this club has a big history of that, so for the players these are very challenging and really nice evenings that they can write history in that way. That's why players want to play for Rangers also.”
Spurs travel to Ibrox on the back of a run of two draws and two defeats which followed their incredible 4-0 thrashing of Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on November 23.
Clement continued: "Of course, we talk about things with the players, we show them things and we try, against every opponent, to find weaknesses or less good points and also how to stop them.
“That is our job to do together with the analysts and we do that with every opponent. Every team has that in the world and it's about looking for that.
“A few weeks ago, I saw [Spurs] play against Man City and they were not in such a bad place at that moment, so it's Premier League, it's the highest level in the world and you can lose points there, but I think this is a really good team."
On Rangers’ recent four-game winning streak and their form going into tomorrow’s game against Ange Postecoglou’s men, Clement added: “It's the evolution that we wanted. Maybe we wanted it faster but I think we are in a good place if you see everything we had to do from the start of the season until now with all the circumstances.
“The last couple of weeks it is very clear for everybody to see that the team is becoming better and better and that there were a few really good results and performances. We want to continue in that way.
"Nana is out, as you all know, and Tom Lawrance will also be out for the game. Rabbi Matondo is training with the team but not fit enough yet to be in the squad. Oscar Cortes is coming closer but that is for a few minutes, not too long, but he is available for the squad.
“We do not have Danilo and Hagi for selection but that was a decision we had to make in the beginning of September and with the circumstances that were there at that moment it's still the right decision, so it's finding a little bit of a new balance for this game also."
Clement is confident that his side can rise to the challenge against one of the Premier League’s biggest clubs tomorrow and he remembered a famous night he was involved in as a player with Club Brugge when they went to Milan’s San Siro in October 2003 and recorded a stunning victory.
He recalled: "Everything can be bridged in one night. I had the luck but it's not only luck, it's also a lot of hard work. To have it as a player, as a manager, several nights that the gap was amazingly big, those are also the best nights if you then perform and you get the results.
“They are also the nights that you remember all of your life. You also remember your teammates really well, when you have those moments of success and those moments of doing something special. In that way, I hope my players now can give themselves, and as a team, a special night tomorrow.
"I don’t want to look too old because you are going to look up how long ago it was but, for example, with Brugge we won 1-0 in the Champions League against AC Milan - the team that the year before had won the Champions League with Dida, Cafu, Maldini, Seedorf, Shevchenko, Inzaghi - and a few really good guys on the bench also.
“That was a very special evening and still if we meet each other - and it doesn’t happen so much now - we still talk about that evening together. I had a few of those and Rangers have also had several of those through their history - those are the special evenings."