Kevin Muscat sets off Rangers alarm bells with emotional Yokohama 'goodbye' before offering future hint

Yokohama F Marinos fans have been left concerns that Kevin Muscat could be set to leave the club following the win over the Urawa Red Diamonds

The former Ibrox midfielder is among the leading candidates to replace Michael Beale as he appears to be in the final two alongside Philippe Clement with James Bisgrove and the Ibrox board weighing up the contenders who will kickstart their season in the Scottish Premiership - with Celtic holding a seven point advantage with the top flight in cold storage for the international break. Muscat continues to add to his CV in Japan having led his side to a 1-0 J-League Cup semi-final win over Urawa with the second leg to take place this Sunday.

But while celebrating with the support at the full-time whistle Muscat appeared to wave goodbye to the support during some emotional scenes in the first leg. It has sparked concerns among the fans that he could be set to make the move to Rangers.

However, speaking at full-time he appeared to be keeping his focus set on the job at hand - and was targeting a spot in the cup final telling the club website: "Our approach is that there will be another new match. Anyway, we went away to Urawa and achieved a solid result in 90 minutes. We will demonstrate what we have achieved. I think that's important."

He added: "We haven't accomplished anything yet. The other match will be at an away location. Going into this match, we wanted to gain the upper hand, and we knew we were going to be aggressive and overwhelm our opponent.

"There may have been some dangerous moments in the first half due to the opponent's long balls and counterattacks, but I think our players played well. It was by no means an easy match, but a tough match."