Rangers boss Clement kicks off Old Firm war of words by claiming rival Rodgers lacks respect

PHILIPPE CLEMENT last night accused Celtic rival Brendan Rodgers of showing a lack of respect towards his Rangers side.

Rodgers lit the blue paper for a potential title decider when he told Rangers he was up for ‘a bit of fun’ at Parkhead this weekend.

Speaking after Ibrox closed the gap with their bitter rivals to three points with a 4-1 win over 10-man Kilmarnock, a furious Clement hit back.

“That’s something I would never say about an opponent,” said the Belgian. ‘But okay, we’ll see. It’s not really respectful to my team. That’s what I think. So I will never say such things about an opponent.’

Rangers started the match against Kilmarnock six points behind and got off to a nightmare start when captain James Tavernier scored an own goal after 12 minutes.

Rangers were awarded a penalty after the second on-field VAR check and saw Killie defender Joe Wright shown a red card for handling on the line before Will Dennis produced an excellent save from Tavernier.

Brendan Rodgers insists he is looking forward to having fun in the crucial derby match

Clement celebrates with Dessers and Yilmaz after a hard-fought win over Kilmarnock

Rangers eventually leveled with the final kick of eight extra minutes through Fabio Silva.

Defender Ben Davies, a half-time substitute for the injured Leon Balogun, broke Kilmarnock’s resistance with his first Rangers goal. Late goals from Tom Lawrence and John Souttar cut Celtic’s lead to three points and five goals.

Defeat at Parkhead would end any realistic hope of Rangers winning the title, but a defiant Clement said: ‘We’re going to fight to the end but I didn’t need today’s game for that. I talked about that last week, and also after Dundee. We were all disappointed with the two results.

‘For me, the basis of being a team and becoming a good team is: never giving up. The team has done that several times and they know they can do it. We will continue with that mentality until the last second of the season.’

The Ibrox boss claimed he would love to play against Celtic today if he could, but claimed he was ‘hungry’ and ‘looking forward’ to this week’s match despite losing Balogun.

“I hope it’s a minor muscle injury,” Clement said. ‘We’ll see in the coming days. But he struggled too much to continue.”

Things started badly when Tavernier’s own goal gave Kilmarnock the lead

Ben Davies was an unlikely goalscorer for Rangers after coming on for Leon Balogun

Tom Lawrence celebrates his miracle strike with Mohamed Diomande

Balogun’s removal secured the first Rangers appearance in five months for the less-spotted Davies. As he smashed home his first Ibrox goal after 62 minutes, the former Liverpool defender beamed: “It felt good. I thought I scored my first goal against Real Betis, but the cameras didn’t show it. It was a bit of a shabby finish today, but it was exactly the same, boarding. I kicked it, he saved it and it hit me again.

‘So it was a bit of luck in the end, but I’m definitely going for it. It’s a good feeling.

‘It’s been a long time since I was injured. I was almost back, but then I got a concussion during training, which forced me to come back. So it was frustrating. But the guys and the manager were great, made me feel part of it. They’ve been saying all along that I’ll be needed before the end of the season.”

Rangers are still in the hunt for a domestic treble and Davies believes the win over Killie was the ideal morale booster before a tour of Glasgow.

‘We scored four good goals today and created many chances. It will be a tough task to win, but we will try.”