Liam Thomas

Tue 6 December 2022 8:40, UK

Michael Beale is facing a Borna Barisic headache as the Rangers defender progressed in the World Cup on 5 December, meaning he could now miss the Englishman’s opening game against Hibernian.

Barisic’s Croatia came out on top against Japan in a penalty shootout, progressing to the Quarter Finals of the tournament to face Brazil.

Scottish Daily Express journalist Lindsay Herron confessed Rangers and Beale now face a “major issue” because of this due to other left-back Ridvan Yilmaz’s injury.

“With Ridvan Yilmaz still recovering from a hamstring injury, there is a major issue on the left side of defence,” said Herron as quoted by the Scottish Daily Express.

“Ben Davies could play there, but would be lost in the central area, and there is potential that James Sands could occupy the berth. Then you have young Adam Devine who is essentially right-sided. Hardly ideal for Beale.”

Same old story.

It looks like Beale is going to inherit all of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s injury-plagued problems heading into his first fixture on 15 December.

There’s a chance Barisic will be back in time for the fixture, not many people will be picking Croatia to beat tournament favourites Brazil.

Nevertheless, the Croat will likely be worn out and probably not match-day-ready to take on the task of Hibernian in front of a packed-out Ibrox.

It’s a shame for Yilmaz that he’s still recovering from an injury as this would have been the perfect time for him to stake his claim to new coach Beale.

The Englishman could ultimately favour the young Turk over Barisic in the future too, the 21-year-old’s attacking style of play matches perfectly with Beale’s footballing philosophy.

For now, Beale must look to the likes of Davies, Sands or Devine to fill in for Barisic, hardly an ideal start for the new head coach, but it’s something he’ll have to get used to quickly.

In other Rangers news, this prolific goalscorer is “excited” by speculation linking him with a move to Ibrox in January.