Rangers' John Lundstram left inconsolable after wild Celtic tackle as Todd Cantwell and John Souttar big calls explained

The chasing Ibrox team had just got back into the game through Cyriel Dessers when Lundstram careered into Celtic full-back Alistair Johnston and was red carded, having initially been shown a yellow card by Willie Collum. The referee was invited to look at the incident again. Down 2-1 and with ten men, Rangers’ already slim chances of gaining a victory and preserving their title hopes were reduced further. Clement all but conceded the title. “I am not naïve,” he said.

He despaired at Lundstram’s actions. “It is, of course, more difficult if you have to play with ten and that is a thing I never want to see – Lunny is the first one that knows that, the group knows,” he said. “I don’t want to see that type of tackle anywhere on the pitch. There it was totally unnecessary.

“It was one split second of wrong decision-making by a player but I don’t forget what he’s been doing for the team in the last couple of months and all year for Rangers. He’s the first one who knows he has made a mistake. There was totally no reason for it.

“We had also a few good chances to score before that and you’re totally in the game. We were then not out of the game but it was much, much more difficult. The positive side is that the team again showed resilience. They didn’t give up and it would have been easier to give up in an environment without fans, being behind and with ten men. We kept on going.”

He reported that Lundstram was inconsolable in the dressing room. "He didn’t speak," he said. "Of course he is disappointed. He will feel like that. I also had moments like that in my career where you take a red card and it is not necessary. He is experienced. He knows and I’m sure in the next couple of weeks he still wants to fight for this team. Maybe he wanted to fight a little bit too much and take the team with him."

Todd Cantwell was surprisingly left out of the team and he was kept on the bench throughout, with Clement explaining that the red card was one factor. “He was fit, yes, but this was not the game to put him on when we are playing with ten,” he said.

Defender John Souttar was replaced at half-time by winger Ross McCausland. Although Rangers knew they had to throw caution to the wind, the manager revealed it was not necessarily a tactical decision. “He (Souttar) had a problem in first half and that’s why I had to take him off at half-time.”

He praised Fabio Silva despite the winger missing two good chances to score in the first half, prior to Celtic opening the scoring. “I think Fabio played a good game," he said. "He stayed really calm under the circumstances. He is a young player who has learned a lot of lessons over the last couple of months, in a good way. He has reacted well. Now it is about killing off games in moments. You need players who are clinical, who are decisive. He was close, that is an important thing. The next step is to be clinical.”