Philippe Clement in Rangers injuries update ahead of Celtic Scottish Cup final

Philippe Clement is hopeful of welcoming some of his injured Rangers players back for next weekend’s cup final against Celtic.

The Belgian has been having to contend with a huge list of injuries at the business end of the season and for the midweek match against Dundee was without a full XI of players. Most of them were still unable to play a part in today’s draw with Hearts but Abdallah Sima made his return from the bench.

Ridvan Yilmaz also got another run-out at left-back and that was positive for the Belgian. He hopes Leon Balogun will join them in the squad for the big Scottish Cup clash as well as some others, but admits he will need to assess them with his medical staff this week.

Asked if he’s looking to welcome players back, Clement said: “I hope. We will see. It was positive that Abda could take some minutes today, that Ridvan could take some minutes today. We will see if Leon Balogun can be fit again. I hope so.

“We will see this week what’s going to happen so it’s difficult for me to plan for this game what will by my starting XI and what changes to make. I’m going to need to assess with the medical and performance staff who is going to be available and for how long.”

Asked whether the crocked stars will be given right up to Saturday to prove their fitness, he added: “That’s a difficult answer to give because I don’t know the situation yet. Maybe somebody will be fit on Friday to play some minutes and I need to wait until that moment so I can’t answer that for the moment.”