'Don't look back in anger' - Clement to players over penalty decision

Manager Philippe Clement has said Rangers "don't need motivation out of negativity" as he urged his players to forget about the League Cup final penalty decision.

Scottish FA head of referee operations Willie Collum has said VAR officials made a ''really, really poor'' and "unacceptable" decision not to award Rangers a penalty against Celtic.

The Ibrox side, who lost on penalties after a 3-3 draw, were awarded a free-kick for a pull on Vaclav Cerny that began outside the Celtic box but continued into it, yet the VAR did not intervene.

However Clement says Rangers must "put that to bed in our heads and stop thinking about it" as they prepare to face Dundee in the Premiership on Saturday.

"You cannot keep on thinking about that. We need to focus now and take the three points. And not look back," said the Belgian, whose team are 11 points behind league leaders Celtic.

"This moment, what happened, will stay for the rest of our lives, in the back of our head. But we need to focus now on what's now.

"We don't need motivation out of negativity. We want to win games and win trophies.

"We were the team who created the most chances in the game and we were the team who should have had a penalty. That's a lot in a cup final - normally you win at the end."

Clement said it is "very clear" there was "no grey area" in the incident but also showed support for Collum's effort in trying to raise standards of referring in Scotland and praised his candour in admitting the error.

Collum said VAR officials Alan Muir and assistant Frank Connor moved "far too quickly" in their analysis of the incident and were "not forensic enough".

"It's been good there was transparency from Willie Collum - it doesn't help the result but we appreciate the honesty for sure," added Clement.

"Everybody in the club hopes that Willie is not alone in his fight to get standards better, but that everybody also at the top of the SFA also have the same ambition to make things better.

"These things cannot happen because it's not only for Rangers or for every team losing a game like that, but it's also for Scottish football.

"It was a really bad advertisement for Scottish football - all of Europe have been talking about what happened in this final. That's a pity for Scottish football."