Rangers survive scare as Borna Barisic shakes off Croatia injury in international friendly
Rangers full-back Borna Barisic hobbled off with a knock late into Croatia’s 1-0 friendly win over Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Barisic was named in Zlatko Dalic’s Croatia squad for the upcoming World Cup, and played a part in the team’s 1-0 friendly win over Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old started at left-back and played the full 90 minutes, although in the final moments of the match he was pictured hobbling off with an apparent injury.
It was an immediate scare for Croatia, but also for Rangers and Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who will be hoping for a fully fit squad in December as he looks to keep hold of his job at Ibrox.
Thankfully for the Dutchman, Barisic confirmed after the match that he was able to shake the injury and is now fine.
“It wasn’t easy, it’s good that we won in the end. The conditions were difficult,” Barisic told Croatian broadcasters HRT, as quoted by Daily Record.
“There is no injury. The most important thing is that no one was injured and that we won because of self-confidence.”
Phew
After a really difficult start to the season, Van Bronckhorst will want to use this World Cup break to his advantage and regroup his Rangers side.
It’s a chance for the team to reset their form and regain their fitness ahead of a busy second half of the season. With Van Bronckhorst on the brink of being sacked at Ibrox, he’ll need to make sure his squad are fit and firing when the league resumes.
He’ll hope for his players to gain lots of confidence with their national team – and crucially not get injured. After Fashion Sakala pulled out of the Zambia squad earlier this week [Daily Record], Van Bronckhorst will have his fingers crossed for no more bad news.
Barisic still has a whole World Cup to navigate without injury before Van Bronckhorst can finally relax, but it’s promising that the left-back will be able to participate with his national team in Qatar.
Thankfully for Van Bronckhorst though, Barisic is the only Gers star taking part in the winter tournament, meaning the rest of his squad will be turning in for training at Ibrox over the next month.
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