Rangers dealt Old Firm blow as Celtic get fitness boost
Rangers have been dealt a fresh blow ahead of Sunday’s Old Firm derby after Celtic revealed Kyogo Furushashi is fit to play after three months out.
The Bears are set to be without star attacker Alfredo Morelos with a ‘long-term’ injury picked up before the international break, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst admitting he will be out for the next few weeks at least.
But Celtic are able to welcome back their Japanese forward after three months out with a hamstring injury ahead of the game in a huge boost for their title chances.
Tom Rogic and Nir Bitton have also recovered from knocks and are available to play at Ibrox, but James Forrest is still injured and won’t play.
Manager Ange Postecgolou admitted that Furushashi is ready to play from the start, but whether he does get the nod or not is a decision they’re yet to make.
Blow
As if losing Morelos for the game, and potentially even longer, ahead of their most important period of the season wasn’t bad enough, their big rivals have got stronger at the same time.
The 27-year-old has scored eight goals in 14 appearances in the league so far this season but hasn’t featured since December.
Rangers will be hoping he is rusty and picked from the start as they look to deal with their own injury problems in attack, while also balancing the Europa League campaign that is still running.
Without Morelos they will be weaker in attack and that means they must be as strong as possible defensively to ensure they don’t lose if they’re unable to win.
But with 52,000 Blues fans behind them on Sunday roaring them on, they’ll be confident that their squad is strong enough to carry them through this patch and make history.
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