Rangers tight-lipped on potential £4m transfer bonus as Philippe Clement finds new centre-half in unlikely place

On a heady night in Govan, Rangers crept into eighth place on goal difference by beating Union Saint-Gilloise 2-1 to negate the need for a play-off, taking advantage of a set of results elsewhere to defy probability of less than ten per cent pre-match that they could finish in the top eight.

Rangers will either play Bodo/Glimt, Anderlecht, Twente or Fenerbahce in the last 16 - the draw is made on February 21 - at the start of March and Clement revelled in a seismic night for him and the players.

"I think it's a massive achievement of all the squad," said Clement. "And it's really squad, it's not team. It's not 11 players or 14, 15 players. But all the squad has been involved in that way. We had to be very creative the last couple of months. But everybody did the job brilliantly.

"It's not only being in this top eight. And if you look at all the teams that finished behind you, there are really massive clubs with massive budgets who are behind us.

"But also in this top eight from the seven other teams, we played against four of them (Man Utd, Olympiacos, Tottenham and Lyon). So that makes the achievement only bigger I think.

"I know what we are doing with the club. We explained in the beginning of the season what this club needed. And it's not my choice. It was the choice of the board and they asked me if I would want to step in this very challenging project.

"I will be on the barricades for this club, but it's good also that people start to see more and more, the things we talked about a few months ago. That people maybe didn't believe or didn't realise, that they see this more and more. And this qualification in the Europa League is one of those things. That is a proof of that. With all these young guys on the pitch and the evolution that several have made during this month.

"I see more and more this culture also in the dressing room. That they understand what this club is about. That was also one part of learning this new team what this club is about. And you see more and more of that. Otherwise you cannot do a performance like that."

Clement acknowledged that his team, who started the night 13th, had defied the odds, but revealed he did not have inkling it would be his night as he focused fully on events at Ibrox and not elsewhere.

"You know me, I don't have many funny feelings," he said. "I'm too serious for that, funny feelings. It's about believing in yourself, in the team and making a good plan, a good structure using our qualities and stopping the opponents to use their qualities because that we did really well in the first half and in the first part of the second half you saw at the end of the game also the qualities that Union has.

"In the offensive part, we stopped that also it was also a very important thing in this game and it's about every game believing in yourself and I believe that on the day we can win against every opponent, whoever it is. That's what the team showed also when we played against Tottenham or Man Utd who are massive clubs. That belief you need to have, otherwise it's no use going on the pitch."

Clement would not be drawn whether reaching the last 16, which pockets the club a cool £4 million, would result in further reinforcements coming in to assist his depleted squad.

"You don't need to ask this question to me," replied the Belgian. "So that's not about me. We talked about that a few weeks ago before the transfer market. My job is to work with the players who are here. So we will see the next couple of days what's possible for the club."

Clement was full of praise for his captain James Tavernier, who once again filled in an unfamiliar role as a centre-half. "I think he even likes it," smiled Clement, "I heard even some rumours that he was saying to people like this I can play a few years longer.

"So yeah, Tav is a massive player. Always has been for the club. Somebody with a good view on football, with an understanding of the game. And that helps in that position. I can use him as a right full-back. I can use him as a centre-back. I can use him as a right winger."