Philippe Clement dismisses Rangers derby record as he warns stars to keep Celtic out of their heads

Philippe Clement has warned his Rangers players not to get sucked in by Celtic’s Hampden mind games.

The Ibrox side go up against their bitter rivals in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final for this first trophy of the season. But the Gers gaffer - who is still sweating on the fitness of defensive stalwart John Souttar - is concerned his team’s focus might slip if they fail to deal with the Parkhead outfit’s attempts to utilise the dark arts.

Clement was left furious after May’s Scottish Cup final loss to Brendan Rodgers team when Todd Cantwell found himself dragged into a sledging contest with Hoops defender Greg Taylor. The riled-up playmaker - who has since moved on to Blackburn - was hauled off with quarter of an hour left but then had to be physically dragged away by his boss after the final whistle as he let rip at referee Nick Walsh.

Now Clement is hoping his team can keep their tempers and nerves in check as they look to build on Thursday’s promising Europa League point at home to Tottenham. Asked if it was key his side handled the emotion of the showpiece clash, he said: “It's also one part of it, yes. Because for sure there will be mind games during the match.

“So they need to handle that well. So those are also things you need to prepare as a staff that the players know it from before. That's also one part of it.

“It's really interesting all these different parts to prepare that and to meld everything together in a really good game. Like the players did against Tottenham now. So now it's the next game against Celtic.”

Clement was proud of the way his side handled the challenge present by Ange Postecoglou’s Premier League outfit. But he’s not got much to shout about when it comes to his derby record against