Philippe Clement has revealed Rabbi Matondo was left out for Rangers against Aberdeen as a "sporting choice".
The Ibrox boss revealed the winger was not named on the bench as he preferred Bailey Rice and Zak Lovelace as options for the Scottish Premiership tie.
Confirming the decision, Clement stated the youth duo are "performing for the moment better".
Meanwhile, Oscar Cortes was not selected in the matchday squad after suffering a "small problem" on Tuesday.
The winger had been involved in training on Tuesday but picked up an issue after training with assessments on the issue to come in the next few days.
"Leaving out [Rabbi] was a sporting choice," said Clement. "The two young lads who were on the bench [Lovelace and Rice] are performing for the moment better.
"Oscar would've been on the bench but he had a small problem yesterday evening, not in training. We need to assess that in the next couple of days."
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On the result and most pleasing aspect of the win over Aberdeen, Clement said: "The connection with the fans at the end [was the most pleasing thing].
"It was almost full domination of the game. That's what we've been working towards for months. We've done that in moments but not enough.
"We could have scored more, we had enough chances. We weren't efficient enough, we hit the bar and post as well.
"We knew we had to kill off the opponent, otherwise they can score with one chance. But we kept pushing."
