PHILIPPE CLEMENT last night revealed Ridvan Yilmaz broke down in tears after adding to his Hampden injury crisis.
The Rangers gaffer could be without up to nine first-team stars for tomorrow’s showdown against Scottish Cup holders Celtic.
John Souttar and Connor Goldson are among those definitely out, while the Ibrox boss is also sweating on Tom Lawrence, Borna Barisic, Leon Balogun and left-back Yilmaz.
The Turk picked up a knock in the closing stages of last weekend’s 3-3 draw at Hearts, with Clement setting his crocks a deadline of today to prove their fitness.
He said: “At the end of the game, at that moment I didn’t know Ridvan had hurt himself again.
“He came into my office the next day with tears in his eyes that he felt something again, so we are going to see if we get him fit for this Cup Final.
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“Souttar for sure won’t be available. With Leon, there is a possibility.
“I’m not a doctor, so we can’t speak about injections, but all the players want to play in this game.
“Some want to go really on the edge to be there, to play that game.
“So we are going to need to make smart decisions without taking too much risk.
“I need to see training tomorrow. That is the final moment to show that you are fit enough to play some minutes.
“Otherwise, if you didn’t train all week, then it’s impossible to play some minutes in the game.
“I’ve never encountered a situation like this and I never want to see it again.
“We are busy within the club to make a good evaluation, with people inside the club, with me and with people outside to solve it for next season. We are pretty far in that.”
Barisic didn’t feature against Hearts, meaning Robbie Fraser could land a shock start at left-back if Clement opts to play Dujon Sterling in midfield.
Danilo and Oscar Cortes had already been ruled out for the season and Rabbi Matondo isn’t expected to be back.
John Lundstram is available for selection following his red card against Celtic when the sides last met at Parkhead two weeks ago.
Many fans don’t want to see the midfielder given another chance.
But Clement said: “I will never make decisions around what fans are thinking because that’s emotion and they don’t see training. They don’t know how the players are.
“I don’t need to answer that question about John starting or not.
“The decision is with my staff about what I see in training and have seen in the last couple of months in the games.”
Despite his woes, Clement is confident his side can upset the odds and claim Scottish Cup glory against Celts.
He added: “For sure. In these games, everything can be decided in a split second, so you need to be switched on all the time and you can win against every opponent in that game.
“It’s a really interesting one. I feel a lot of energy and desire in the team now to end the season in a really good way.
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“There are good steps made, but also things lost along the way with injuries. We need to solve that for next season.”
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