Ianis Hagi was declared unavailable shortly before Rangers v Malmo
Rangers attacker Ianis Hagi was unable to play against Malmo after failing to shake off an injury, according to The Athletic journalist Jordan Campbell.
The Scottish champions suffered a 2-1 loss last night in the first-leg of the Champions League third qualifying round, and will have to overturn the deficit when the Swedes come to Ibrox for the return leg.
Hagi was due to feature against Malmo despite hobbling off against Livingston with a knock, but a late decision meant it did happen.
Campbell wrote on The Athletic website: “Ianis Hagi, who was named on the bench after coming off with a knock against Livingston on Saturday, is understood to have been declared unavailable shortly before the game after failing to shake off the injury.”
Big miss
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard had declared on Saturday night that it would require a miracle for the Romanian to play against Malmo given the extent of his injury [Sky Sports], and he would have been gutted to have seen such an influential player miss the crucial clash.
We are too, and we believe the Bears would have left Sweden with a better result had Hagi featured.
The winger bagged the opener in the 3-0 Premiership win at the weekend just eight minutes into the game, but was off after 23 minutes.
Hagi had gone down near the sideline just five minutes after scoring, and while it appeared he was going to shake off the knock after getting up a couple of minutes later, that did not happen, and it was too early to return to action last night.
We are eagerly looking forward to the second-leg next Tuesday (August 10), and having Hagi back in front of the Ibrox crowd would be a massive boost.
Leon Balogun, Glen Kamara and Kemar Roofe missed last night’s game through suspension, while Joe Aribo, Ryan Jack and Alfredo Morelos were all unavailable too.
Hagi, Morelos and Aribo are expected to be ready for Malmo’s visit, and hopefully, they would play huge roles and help us book a place in the play-offs.
In other Rangers news, player to jet into Scotland, Bears at advanced stage for deal.