Here's what Philippe Clement said to the press after Rangers' 2-1 Old Firm defeat to Celtic.

How did you see the game?

...[Answer starts mid-question] And after of course, the red card decided the game because after their 20 minutes, we were coming into the game and had enough chances also. At half-time, the xG of the two teams was similar. Only a few more shots from a distance for Celtic. You need to take those moments but we need to start better that is clear. We need to play 90 minutes like they played the last 70. What is also of course more and more difficult if you play with 10. That was a thing I never wanted to see and Lunny is the first one who knows, the group knows. I don’t want to see those kinds of tackles anywhere on the pitch and there it was totally not necessary. It’s one split second of wrong decision-making by a player but I don’t forget what he has been doing for the team last couple of months and all these years for Rangers also. He is the first one who knows he made a mistake there.

Does the area of the pitch it occurred in compound the disappointment?

Yeah, it was totally no reason, you feel you make the one-two and we had a few good chances before that to score and you’re totally in the game. We put ourselves not out of the game but made it much much more difficult of course. The positive side? The team again showed resilience not to give up. It was much easier to give up in this environment without fans, being behind against a good team and playing with 10 but we kept going playing with 10 to create the second goal and we stayed in the game until the last second. Nobody here was relaxed here until the last second, but we didn’t manage to put it over the line.

Does the title feel gone?

My mentality is to never give up as long as something is possible but I am not naive. We need to focus on recovering fast and showing a good reaction against Dundee. We need to start with that.

What did you talk about Willie Collum about?

We didn’t have a discussion, I always go to the referee and we always speak after the game. There was no discussion.

Does John feel like he’s let his team down today?

He didn’t speak now of course and he is disappointed. Of course, he will feel like that. I also had moments like that in my career to take a red card when it was not necessary. He is experienced and he knows. I am sure in the next couple of weeks he wants to fight for this team. Maybe he wanted to fight a little too much to take the team with him.

How do you explain the slow start?

That’s things to discuss because I expected much more in the first 20 minutes and they know they can do it. They did it before. In parts of the game, they did it with 10 men as well. That is something to discuss.

Fabio Silva had chances?

Yes, I think Fabio played a good game and stayed really calm under the circumstances. He is a young player who has learned a lot of lessons in the last months and in a good way he is reacting to that. Now it is also about killing the game in these moments. You need players who are clinical, and decisive. He was close, that’s already an important thing. The next step is to be clinical.

Celtic’s first goal, do you need to clamp down in midfield ahead of the cup final?

That’s nothing new, that’s their quality also but we lacked aggression. In this situation what we could do with 10, we for sure need to do with 11. It’s maybe too much thinking in that moment [Celtic’s first goal] that can for me be the only reason but we will speak about that because I expect much more in the first 20 minutes.

Was Todd Cantwell fit?

He was fit yes but this was not the game to put him on when we were playing with 10.

How is John Souttar?

We don’t know yet, he had a problem in the first half which is why I had to take him off at half time.