Philippe Clement knows Rangers will need to play "above their level" to make the Europa League last eight - but reckons the Ibrox faithful can be instrumental in producing another memorable evening in Govan.

Rangers host Portuguese giants Benfica at Ibrox on Thursday with the tie level at 2-2 from the first leg in Lisbon. The Light Blues have shown they can go all the way in Europe's second competition when they finished runners up two years ago, and Clement believes his side have the hunger and freshness within them to secure their place in the quarter-finals of this season's tournament. 

He said: "We have some players coming back also with Todd Cantwell. There are others who are question marks or who are out. But that's been the strength of the team all season, or all this period together already. 

"So, I know in the weekend that Benfica rested four or five players towards this game. But my players are ready. I saw enough today, I see the freshness is back. The hunger is really big, and we know we need to play above our level to qualify but we are going to do everything we can to do that."

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Rangers chiefs weren't best pleased when the fixture was scheduled for 5:45pm and Clement was quick to pay tribute to the supporters for snapping up the briefs so quickly despite having to make sacrifices. And the Belgian claims they could've packed out Ibrox several times for the clash. 

He continued: "With the support of the fans, they can give something extra. This game was sold out really fast although it's a really early kick-off and a lot of people have to take a day off work to get to the stadium. But we could've sold the stadium out two or three times, so that means already how much support there is from the fans and they are really excited for this game."