Early Rangers team news: 27-year-old is a big doubt for Livingston clash
Steven Gerrard has confirmed that Rangers defender Borna Barisic is a doubt for the clash against Livingston on Sunday afternoon.
The Croatian full-back was forced off just before half-time in the 2-0 win against Standard Liege on Thursday evening in the Europa League.
Calvin Bassey came on, and once again impressed despite being thrown into the deep end in Belgium, catching the eye of Gerrard.
Gerrard shared the chances of Barisic returning to fitness before Sunday and admitted that he is likely to remain a doubt.
“We have got a couple of kicks, bumps and bruises that we are dealing with this morning,” he said.
“The only concern would be Barisic, I would say he is a doubt where we are at right now, it is not a big problem there’s still a chance he could pull through but we will check it out in more detail this afternoon.”
Barisic has already made 13 appearances this season in all competitions, completing 1374 minutes of action as he remains a pivotal part of this side.
The 27-year-old has scored once and delivered an impressive six assists, and offers great attacking returns as well as staying strong at the back.
The Croatian was superb against Celtic last week, completing seven interceptions and winning 86% of his aerial duels according to WyScout.
It is easy to switch off defensively against teams like Livingston, and Gerrard will be keen to keep together his backline and their superb record – fingers crossed.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has been left staggered by one player’s brilliance.