Aris Limassol could have suffered a hammer blow ahead of their vital trip to Ibrox later this month with key man Yannick Gomis a major doubt to play Rangers.

Rangers have put themselves in an excellent position to qualify after their win over Sparta Prague in their last match in the group stages of the Europa League.

They face Cypriot side Aris next, who beat them 2-1 on the Mediterranean island when Rangers had Steven Davis in charge as caretaker manager.

Senegalese international Gomis was instrumental in that game, but he injured himself in Aris' shock weekend 4-1 defeat to Karmiotissa.

Aris stated: "Yannick suffered from a muscle injury after the weekend and will now undergo tests to discover the severity of the injury.

"After that, we will get a timescale for his return."

Meanwhile, Philippe Clement hopes the international break does not derail Rangers from “the story they are building together” after bringing the feelgood factor back to Ibrox over the past month.

The Belgian took the reins in mid-October following the sacking of Michael Beale and has overseen a seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions consisting of six victories and a spirited draw away to Sparta Prague in the Europa League.

Having helped Gers build up such momentum in his opening four weeks in charge, Clement is intent on ensuring all of his players – including those away on international duty – maintain the correct mindset when they return to Premiership action away to Aberdeen a week on Sunday.

“We will have a good training week and I’ll see if we can organise one game, we’re still looking for that,” said the manager. “The players will have a few days off, not long, three days but with a running programme – not three days without anything.

“Then we start building towards the weekend (of the Aberdeen game) with every-day training. Players who have played a lot will have a programme which is intense but they have their three days also.

“The other players who have to build more and come out of injury, they will have a tougher programme to get to the same level as the rest. We do it that way and with the internationals, we follow up how much they train and how much they play.

“But we can’t control that so you need to see how they adapt when they come back and I hope they don’t forget the story we are building here together.

“That’s always the danger when they are in a new environment with other ideas, that they forget some things. That will be interesting to see when they come back.”