Rangers ace faces COVID uncertainty after int’l side statement
Borna Barisic’s Croatian teammate Domagoj Vida has tested positive for COVID-19 while on international duty with the Rangers defender.
In a statement on Thursday, the Croatian National Football Team confirmed that the Besiktas defender has been placed in isolation after testing positive for the disease.
Rangers fans will rightly be worried following Vida’s positive result as he could have infected anyone inside the Croatia camp including Barisic.
In more positive news, the statement confirms that everyone in the Croatia squad tested negative for COVID on Monday but that does not rule out the possibility that Vida managed to infect some of his teammates in the following days.
If Barisic was to test positive for the disease he could potentially miss the Gers’ next game against Aberdeen.
If this was the case then Calvin Bassey would be brought in to start instead which wouldn’t be a disaster as he has impressed on his few outings this season.
It certainly seems that plenty of players are picking up COVID while on international duty. Celtic were hampered by multiple cases in their ranks just before the first Old Firm of the season.
Those cases were all picked up on international duty and it seems that when players break their club ‘bubble’ to join up with their national team, the chances of them catching the coronavirus increase.
This surely raises questions over why international football is still being played at the moment. Could we see clubs start to refuse to let their players go on international duty if cases like Barisic’s become more common?
We wouldn’t be surprised if that became the case with Rangers if their key players continue to be put at risk.
In other Rangers news, Ross Wilson has confirmed that a Rangers starlet has been promoted to the first-team squad.