Philippe Clement 'gutted' after late Old Trafford defeat
Philippe Clement admits he and his Rangers players were left gutted by a late Bruno Fernandes goal that consigned them to defeat at Old Trafford.
The Manchester United captain popped up with a stoppage-time winner moments after Cyriel Dessers had struck for injury-hit Rangers to cancel out a bizarre own goal from United's former back-up goalkeeper Jack Butland.
The defeat leaves the Ibrox side with now only a very slim chance of finishing in the top 8 and advancing straight into the last 16 of the Europa League.
United had looked to be in control after Butland, outstanding for much of the night, had somehow contrived to punch Christian Eriksen's inswinging corner into his own net in the 52nd minute, a horrible moment for a man who spent six months on loan at United in 2023 without playing.
Dessers then capitalised on a mistake from Harry Maguire to score an 88th-minute goal which threated to push United out of the top eight, but Fernandes had the final word to the relief of his manager.
Rangers had travelled south without eight players amid an injury crisis, and were forced to replace Leon Balogun and Connor Barron at half-time, asking youngsters Ross McCausland and Bailey Rice to play out of position.
"Everybody is gutted in the dressing room, disappointed that we lost after playing that sort of game," Clement added. "Clearly you want to win, but on the other hand I'm very proud of what the team did today. It was about sticking to the plan, following the tactics all the way.
"I think in the first half we had the better chances to take the lead and in the second half we go behind because Manchester were playing better than us, but we didn't stop believing and we continued going for the goal.
"It's really disappointing to take the second goal at the end but there's a lot of positives with this young group."
Butland returned to make his first appearance in a month after a leg problem and made a string of good saves, keeping out efforts from Lisandro Martinez, Amad Diallo and Manuel Ugarte, only for it to all go wrong when he went to punch Eriksen's corner and the ball skimmed off his glove.
"Jack saved us a few times also in the second half so that is the life of a goalkeeper," Philippe Clement said. "I am not going to be focused solely on that."
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