Philippe Clement has revealed a secondary reason for his decision to name John Lundstram as a Rangers substitute against Celtic.
The Ibrox midfielder is in the matchday squad for the Scottish Cup final but didn't make the starting side with Nico Raskin in from the first whistle.
Clement had faced questions in the build-up over whether he would listen to fan demands to leave Lundstram out after his nightmare performance at Celtic Park.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement talks through his team changes and tactical plans ahead of the Scottish Cup final 🏆 Watch live @BBCOne Scotland 📺#BBCFootball #ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/itceLhxR5T
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The midfielder - who is out of contract in the summer - scored an own goal before being sent off in the final league derby of the season.
Clement insisted he would never base decisions on fan thinking, but has decided against starting Lundstram at Hampden.
The decision comes not only as a result of his struggled at Celtic Park - but Clement also cited the secondary reason of fitness concerns in his explanation.
He told BBC Sport: "It's also to do with fitness. John played a lot of minutes this season, around 5000 minutes, so it is a lot of games so missing a little bit of freshness.
"I expect, again, a really intense start. Nico Raskin was last couple of weeks pushing really hard so we go for this intensity at the start of the game.
"Maybe Lunny will come on later on in the game."
