GERS WORRY
Rangers news: Ibrox side face injury sweat over Borna Barisic after Croat missed international match with knee injury
by Mark WalkerRANGERS are facing an injury sweat over key defender Borna Barisic after it was revealed he missed his country's defeat in France because of a knee injury.
The Croatian international played for his nation in their first Nations League game, when they were thumped 4-1 by Portugal in Porto.
He would have played too in Tuesday's repeat of the 2018 World Cup Final against France, which Croatia again lost, this time going down to a 4-2 defeat in Paris.
But Croatian FA team doctor Zoran Bahtijarevic has revealed why manager Zlatko Dalic opted to leave the Rangers full back on the bench for 90 minutes.
He said: "Borna Barisic got a knock on his knee against Portugal.
"I couldn't say with certainty that he would have been fully ready for the match in France."
Barisic has become one of Steven Gerrard's most important players for the Ibrox side and he's Croatia's first-choice left back too.
And Gerrard will be desperate to know whether he gets the all-clear to play in tomorrow's crucial encounter against Dundee United.
Meanwhile, former Celtic star Paul Lambert reckons that the decision to tell Rangers to re-start in the bottom tier of the Scottish game in 2012 "caused real harm to the Scottish game".
The former Celtic star and European Cup winner was Aston Villa manager when the Ibrox side teetered on the brink and said the whole affair tarnished the image of the entire Scottish game.
He told the Daily Record: “I was in England on the outside looking in and I thought it was an absolute disaster for the game and for Scottish football.
"It was a disaster PR-wise, not only for Rangers, but for the image of our game as a whole.
“If Rangers were to get punished, fine, no problem.
“But to send them down to the bottom leagues caused real harm to the Scottish game."