Rangers manager Philippe Clement admits it’s too early to know the severity of Oscar Cortes’ knee injury after the winger was forced off early in the second half during the goalless draw against Hearts at Tynecastle.
The Ibrox side had to settle for a point on the opening day of the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership season, with Clement’s new-look squad looking particularly vulnerable throughout the 90 minutes.
The Belgian has stressed that his team remains in the midst of a major rebuild, despite the lack of new signings names in his starting line-up for this curtain-raiser in the capital and Colombian wide man Cortes is now a major fitness doubt ahead of the Gers’ Champions League third qualifying round first-leg tie with Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday night.
The 20-year-old looked in real pain on the stroke of half-time after finding himself on the receiving end of a strong Gerard Taylor challenge. Despite receiving a period of treatment on the pitch, Cortes was deemed fit to re-emerge for the start of the second half but broke down again within minutes of the restart.
Asked for an injury prognosis, Clement admitted post-match: “I cannot say for the moment. He fell down in a duel in a bad way at the end of the first-half. He hurt his knee and was tested by the doctor, who said he was fine for the second half. But with his first sprint he felt too much pain so we need to take him off.
“It’s not ideal at that moment because you lose an important player in the second half which was huge in this period when players are less fresh at the end of the game. But it’s experience of a young player also, knowing your body and what is pain and what you can do or cannot do. That’s part of the journey of young players, to get a better assessment around that.”
Quizzed on what he learned about his squad following the stalemate in Gorgie, Clement confessed: “Not too much. I expected some to be much braver in the first half-hour of the game, in the duels and on the ball. So that was clearly not good enough. I’m never content with a point because I always want to win. But it’s a fair result at the end.
“I think we didn’t play a good first half, for sure the first half-hour. After we reacted better and when we can speak about things at half-time and show things, it was a much, much better second half. But the team needs to recognise these things on the pitch already faster. So, those are working points. That’s normal in the rebuild that we are doing, and then you see in the second half, we play more of our normal game but then you need to finish off the chances you get. It was first half for Hearts and second half for us, so it’s a fair result at the end.”
