With the Champions League approaching, Rangers manager admits that Cortes “felt too much pain” and provides an update on his ailment.

With the Champions League approaching, Rangers manager admits that Cortes “felt too much pain” and provides an update on his ailment.

With the Champions League approaching, Rangers manager admits that Cortes “felt too much pain” and provides an update on his ailment.

At Tynecastle, the Colombian winger had to be

replaced early in the second half by Rabbi

Matondo. Oscar Cortes suffered a knee injury

early in the second half of Rangers’ goalless draw

with Hearts at Tynecastle, and the winger’s

ailment is still too early to determine the extent

of the problem, according to manager Philippe

Clement. On the first day of the 2024–25 Scottish

Premiership season, the Ibrox team had to settle

for a draw, with Clement’s revamped squad

appearing especially weak for the full ninety

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. Following the game,

Clement said, when asked about his injury

prognosis, “I cannot say for the moment.” At the

end of the first half, he suffered a serious duel.

After testing him for a knee injury, the physician

declared him good to play for the second half.

However, he experienced too much agony during

his first sprint, so we have to remove him. It’s not

ideal right now because, at this point in the

game, guys are less fresh, and you lose a key

player in the second half, which was significant.

However, it’s also the experience of a young

player, understanding your body, what

constitutes pain, and what you are capable of or

not. That is a component of young players, to get

a better assessment around that.”

When asked about his squad’s knowledge after

the Gorgie stalemate, Clement said, “Not too

much.” When the game first started, I thought

some players would show much more bravery in

the duels and on the ball. That was obviously

insufficient. I always want to win, so I’m never

satisfied with a point. But in the end, it’s a just

outcome. “It’s safe to say that we played poorly

for the first thirty minutes or so. It was a much,

much better second half after we responded

better and when we were able to talk about and

demonstrate things during halftime.However,

the squad must identify these things more

quickly on the pitch. Those are the points of

operation. That is typical 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.”

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