Ianis Hagi hopes to return to Rangers’ European squad after sitting out of their run to the last 16 of the Europa League.
The Romania international was left out of the Gers’ European group at the start of the season due to a contract issue which left him sidelined but was eventually settled.
Hagi, who was involved in the early games in Rangers’ memorable run to the Europa League final in 2022 before he seriously injured his knee, missed the 2-1 win over Union Saint-Gilloise at Ibrox which clinched a top-eight spot in the group.
The midfielder returned against Ross County on Sunday and scored a first-half double to set Rangers on their way to a convincing 4-0 William Hill Premiership win, with further goals from defender John Souttar and skipper James Tavernier.
Clement can change three players in his squad for the last-16 tie in March when Rangers will meet one of Bodo/Glimt, Twente, Anderlecht or Fenerbahce and Hagi is looking to get involved again.
“Yeah, definitely, I’ve always enjoyed the European nights,” he said.
“And hopefully I can help the team in those nights as well and not only in the domestic games.
“It’s difficult when you don’t play at all in any type of game, not only European games.
“I want to be on the pitch for a full 90 minutes. That’s my mentality.
“That’s where I’m focusing on and I’m probably speaking for every player in the dressing room. They want to be there as much as possible in the pitch.
“So I think it goes without saying that I want to be there also in the European nights.
“Obviously that European run (in 2022) was fantastic, considering how we started with the Alashkert game here, going down (to 10 men) after what, 20 minutes, and still getting into the group stages.
“Everybody did his own job back then, obviously myself in the group stages. Then I got injured,
“I scored that goal away against Brondby (in a 1-1 draw) and it kept our chances alive to get out of the group stages.
“And then everybody did it his own job until the final.
“It’s definitely special when you get that momentum. I feel like we’re having that this season.
“You never know what can happen. We just have to take it game by game.
“Obviously it was a fantastic performance by the boys to put us in the top eight. So looking forward to that (the last 16) definitely.”
One of Hagi’s memorable European nights was against Braga at Ibrox in the last 16 of Europe League in February 2020.
After going two goals down, the Light Blues battled back and the midfielder’s deflected free-kick, his second goal of the game, gave the home side a 3-2 first-leg win before they completed the job in the return game.
Hagi’s heavily deflected free-kick against County, also his second goal of the game, drew comparisons with the dramatic winner against Braga.
He said: “I’ve been really unlucky with my free-kicks since that Braga game here. I hit the post quite a few times with the national team.
“So finally the luck was on my side and hopefully I can keep adding them up, because I really trust my free-kicks.
“I hope I can give a good competition to skip (Tavernier), because he’s a fantastic free-kick taker and it’s good when you have different options in the team. And hopefully we can score together as many as possible.”
