GARY KEOWN: The Rangers midfield double act that hold the key not only to Hampden glory, but to a sustainable future for Ibrox club

They’ve now shown beyond question that they have the ability to compete — more than compete — at a very high level. 

For Rangers midfield pair Nicolas Raskin and Mohamed Diomande, the next step is clear. 

Prove they’ve got the wherewithal to keep their games at a consistent level. And be winners.

Do that, and their importance to the cause can go well beyond events such as the Premier Sports Cup final at Hampden.

Right now, as the Premiership table shows, the Ibrox team’s only hope of putting a dent in Celtic’s dominance and gaining success rests on one-off encounters such as Sunday’s meeting.

If Diomande and Raskin can really make inroads on changing themselves into proper, marketable assets, though, and turn ‘the mythical player-trading model’ — as former chairman John Bennett put it — into something real and operational, all hope might not be lost down Govan way despite the inescapable grimness of late.

Becoming cup winners on Sunday afternoon is the immediate ambition for Raskin and Diomande, of course.

However, if their performances against Tottenham Hotspur in that breathless 1-1 Europa League draw on Thursday night indicated anything, it is that they still have it within them to play at a higher level, to fulfil the potential others saw in them earlier in their careers.

From that perspective, finding a way to get one over on Rangers’ oldest rivals on Sunday might end up being about more than just lifting the third most important trophy on the domestic scene.

It should certainly be looked upon as an opportunity to mark themselves out as potential flagbearers. Guys capable of not just winning a cup and ending manager Philippe Clement’s horrendous record against Celtic, but maybe of opening a door. For themselves and others.

Picking out highlights from that wonderful, open, high-octane, end-to-end face-off with Spurs in midweek is not straightforward.

It was electrifying from start to finish. Clement’s side should have won. Again, following another fine display in a UEFA competition, you were left wondering how they can be such a Jekyll-and-Hyde outfit when struggling their way through games at home.

The displays of both Raskin and Diomande were outstanding, though. Impossible not to notice and appreciate.

Yes, Spurs entered the game riddled with injuries and struggling badly for form. Yes, their play was unbelievably scrappy at times, their inability to keep the ball in long stages quite astonishing.

But the team they did put out still cost ridiculous amounts of money to pull together and there is no question Rangers should have beaten them.

Amid many, many excellent displays, those of Raskin and Diomande were key to that.

Raskin looked a player of real promise when he first arrived from Standard Liege in January 2023, tipped to form a long-term midfield pairing with a certain Todd Cantwell.

Those hopes faded over the following campaign thanks to issues with fitness and form and it looked ominous for him again in pre-season when a bad tackle in a friendly against Ajax put him on the sidelines with ankle trouble.

Raskin, signed by Michael Beale, has never been an awful lot more than a bit-part operator under fellow Belgian Clement.

There have been obvious concerns that he just isn’t the manager’s type of player. Yet, recent weeks have given reason to believe he might still fulfil those ambitions he spoke of shortly after arriving of going on to play in the English Premier League.

He is a natural No 6, capable of taking the ball in tight areas. On Thursday, he was all over the place, snapping into tackles, using the ball well, showing incredible energy.

He puts his improved form of late down to knocking together a meal plan with the club cook and losing a few kilos in weight. Lord knows what’s been getting drizzled into his mince and tatties. Rocket fuel, by the looks of it.

Likewise, Diomande looked like the player many expected him to blossom into following his arrival from Nordsjaelland last January — on an initial loan deal that turned into a permanent £4.3million transfer — against Ange Postecoglou’s side.

The Ivory Coast international has looked like a guy retreating into his shell for most of this season. He hasn’t been influencing games. Hasn’t looked a personality. Hasn’t done much to turn round an increasing number of critics within the support.

Yet, outwith a silly booking for a handball the other night, Diomande barely put a foot wrong. He was winning the ball, wanting the ball, showing himself, making runs. Everything you know he can do, but often doesn’t.

This really has to be a turning point for him. He is more adaptable than Raskin. He can play in all kinds of roles in the midfield. There is real technical ability there, but he must show more confidence, consistency and, of course, add more goals to his game.

‘There is still more from me to show everybody,’ promised Diomande following his scoring display in the recent 4-1 away win over Nice in Europe.

Rangers must hope so. Clement identified Diomande as the guy who could kickstart a new, badly-needed transfer model for the club when he penned his long-term contract until 2028 back in January.

He is 23, so there is still plenty of time for him. Raskin is 23, too. Further impressive displays in this term’s Europa League will certainly spark interest and the upcoming trip to Manchester United is a great platform — with the final home game against Union Saint-Gilloise sure to carry the opportunity of progressing in the tournament.

Doing well in Europe definitely heightens hopes of a transfer no doubt. Look at the fall-out from the Europa League final in 2022. Ajax forked out £19.6million for Calvin Bassey and Southampton invested £10m in Joe Aribo.

Rather than building on that, though, Rangers blew it. They had to use those sales to build a reputation as a selling club and didn’t. It means they have to start all over again, with Raskin and Diomande arguably the two best options they’ve got — with Hamza Igamane maybe a little further down the line.

However, Bassey and Aribo had shown themselves capable of winning silverware before their moves, of getting the better of Celtic in the domestic environment, of putting in steady performances that brought tangible reward.

That’s the building block Raskin and Diomande have to find a way to put in place as well. With Sunday a good place to start.

‘One day, I want to play in the Premier League, but I don’t put pressure on myself,’ said Raskin, famously. ‘I have a plan in my head, Rangers is just a stage in that.’

Well, it’s time to turn words into actions. For both of these guys. The odds are heavily against them Sunday, but they were against them on Thursday night as well.

Do they stand up tall again and show this Rangers team isn’t the write-off so many believe? Or do they collapse at the feet of the green-and-white half of Glasgow as has happened too often before, deciding, after all, to use their manager’s perplexing talk about Celtic being ‘financially out of our league’ as an excuse?

Melodramatic as it might sound, both their futures — and the future of a club that desperately needs to find sellable assets from somewhere — are now hanging on them being able to exhibit that what went on at Ibrox when Spurs came to visit was more than just a beguiling flash in the pan.

Ange spot-on over meaning of the game

Over and above giving Timo Werner both barrels and refusing to back down, there was one answer from the raft of questions put to Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou around his midweek visit to Rangers that really resonated.

Asked how he felt about ‘walking into the bearpit’ of Ibrox, the former Celtic manager  replied: ‘Once you experience football in empty stadiums, you realise how meaningless it is.

‘I felt through that whole Covid period that it was meaningless. As much as you go: “It could be hostile”, that’s what we love about the game, you know? That’s what brings it to life.’

And he’s absolutely right. Hostility. Anger. Thunder. Football, like it or lump it, is nothing without all that and more.

This can no doubt bring some unpleasantness, as we will likely witness at Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final between Celtic and Rangers, but, as long as rivalry does not spill into disorder, that is a price that just has to be paid.

We must do everything we can to keep atmospheres at football’s biggest, highest-profile games genuine, unique, and, above all, deafening.

And having witnessed what a 50/50 split does for the occasion at Hampden Sunday, new Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart ought to make knocking heads with Celtic and finding an agreement to let proper away allocations into Parkhead and Ibrox for Old Firm derbies next season one of the first jobs on his list when he starts work on Sunday.

Kind draw no reason to go easy on Clarke

Yes, it’s true that Scotland have landed a World Cup qualification draw that offers reason for hope.

Second spot and a play-off place from a four-team group including Portugal or Denmark, Greece and Belarus, as a bare minimum, is definitely within the grasp of the current squad of players. So might winning the section be, too.

Making it to the finals, though, should not be seen as enough, in itself, to rehabilitate national coach Steve Clarke following the disasters of the last European Championship.

To paraphrase SFA president Mike Mulraney, qualification should no longer be seen as enough for Scotland. And any final judgment on Clarke’s tenure as manager should be reserved until this campaign has reached journey’s end.

Based on the horrendous anti-climaxes of Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, it’s hard to believe Clarke will take the national team to that next level required, but it looks like we’re stuck with him, so let’s keep our fingers crossed against all available evidence.

The story of a Scotland fan’s life, to be perfectly frank.