Ianis Hagi’s red card ‘clumsy’ not malicious

Philippe Clement claims returning midfielder Ianis Hagi’s late red card in Rangers’ 2-0 William Hill Premiership win over St Johnstone at Ibrox was “clumsy” rather than malicious.

Vaclav Cerny broke the deadlock in the 34th minute and he added a second in the 58th minute before the drama with Hagi began.

The Romania midfielder, who was back in the squad for the first time this season after a contract issue was resolved, came off the bench for the second half to make his first appearance since the League Cup game against Morton in August, 2023 before he went on loan to Spanish side Alaves.

After setting up Cerny for the second goal, he was initially booked for a foul on Saints striker Benjamin Kimpioka in the 80th minute, before a VAR check saw referee David Dickinson upgrade to a red card.

Clement said: “I had the feeling that there was not much intensity and I had a really big doubt about the red card, but if I see the images, it’s a clear red card.

“There’s no intensity in the tackle, it’s more clumsy, a clumsy challenge from a player who’s tired at that moment.

“It’s really like an attacking player making a foul. Ianis didn’t have any intentions to tackle in that way.

“It was unlucky, but it’s a clear red card, so I’ve nothing to say about that.

“I cannot be disappointed in him, because he’s just in the building, in that way, training with us.

“But I don’t think it will be a really big, big suspension, because you see it’s not with big intensity and it’s more of an unlucky one, but it’s a clear one.”

Cerny missed a sitter against Lyon when it was goalless in Thursday’s 4-1 Europa League defeat by Lyon at Ibrox and Clement was glad to see him find the target twice on Sunday night.

He said: “I’m really happy for him, because from the first moment he came into this club, he’s been working really hard for the team.

“He was really down after Thursday, by missing that chance and he felt really responsible in that way, because he knew it was a really important moment in the beginning of the game.

“If you score there, you have a totally different momentum in the game and it can be a different game then.

“He talked about that with me and it was a really open and good talk. But he didn’t lose any of my confidence.

“He showed what I wanted to see, after the disappointment, to react and to keep composure and not start to doubt. So I’m really happy for him with two quality goals, but also on the ball and without the ball – doing the right stuff for the team.”

Simo Valakari viewed his first game as Saints boss from the directors’ box while waiting for a work permit with interim boss Andy Kirk, taking charge with Alec Cleland.

Kirk was pleased with the improvement from last week’s 6-0 defeat by Celtic.

He said: “It was a lot more positive. OK, the result again wasn’t what we’d like, but you’re coming to Ibrox against a very strong team.

“Players knew the manager was in the stand watching, so it was obviously them trying to impress as well.

“And I thought first half we worked hard and we our shape was pretty good, but we were really untidy with the ball.

“Second half, we changed the shape a little bit, which I think helped.

“We’re a little bit better and we posed a bit more of a threat, second half. But there’s positives, definitely positives we can take from that game.”