Rangers team news as Philippe Clement sets Borna Barisic return date ahead of Sparta Prague clash
Philippe Clement has confirmed that Borna Barisic and Dujon Sterling will miss Rangers’ clash with Sparta Prague on Thursday 26 October.
The Croatian left-back was substituted after only 11 minutes of Clement’s Ibrox debut against Hibernian on Saturday (21 October) having picked up an injury and the Belgian boss has revealed that he hopes to have him back in the squad “by next week.”
Sterling also misses out with injury having not featured for Rangers since their Viaplay Cup win over Livingston in September, with the former Chelsea defender’s only start coming in the Old Firm derby defeat to Celtic under Michael Beale.
Speaking with the media as quoted by Rangers’ Twitter account (25 October) Clement said: “We hope to get Borna Barisic back by next week – the timing is not ideal because Ridvan Yilmaz is not in the Europan squad and Dujon is injured.
“I look for solutions so there will be another player to fill the left-back position and do the job for the team. I expect everyone to work together – whoever steps in will be able to do the job.”
Not ideal
Beale may be long gone at Ibrox but repercussions of his tenure are still being felt and his decision to leave Yilmaz out of the European squad has already come back to bite Clement and the Rangers side less than a fortnight into his tenure in Glasgow.
Admittedly the former Rangers boss couldn’t have predicted that both of his other left-back options would pick up injuries at the same time, but it has left the former Moncao manager with a big call to make in a crucial match only days after arriving in Scotland.
Adam Devine and Johnly Yfeko have both been pictured in training this week and could deputise in Barisic’s absence, but neither are exactly proven at senior level and a gritty away trip to Sparta Prague is a tough test to be thrown immediately into.
What is clear from Clement’s comments however is that he doesn’t expect it to be down to one player to cover at left-back and it is evident that he expects the team to work hard around whoever starts in defence to help them through what will be a difficult test.
Hopefully, Barisic returns as expected and the Light Blues won’t be forced to find a similar makeshift solution in the coming weeks.
In other Rangers news, Pascal Jansen has spoken for the first time since being linked for the “massive” manager’s position at Ibrox