Rangers ace Leon Balogun reacts to Mohamed Diomande wind-up, ‘bring your shinguards’
Leon Balogun joked that Mohamed Diomande would need to bring his shinguards for Rangers training on Monday after a classic dressing room wind-up.
On Sunday, Ivory Coast came from behind to defeat Nigeria 2-1 in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, much to the delight of Ivorian and Under-23 international Diomande.
The 22-year-old forward celebrated the triumph by turning up to training in an Ivory Coast jersey – something that drew a tongue-in-cheek warning from 46-cap Nigeria international centre-back Balogun.
Posting an Instagram story on Monday (12 February) in quotes reported by Football Scotland, Balogun can be heard saying: “Look at this one. He’s just signed here and he thinks he can mock me like that. Look at him.
“You’re not getting any passes from me today, mate. Oh my God. He brought Twitter to the dressing room, look at this guy man. Mama mia.
“Yeah, enjoy it while you still can. We’re training in a little bit. I’m back (training) today you know. Bring your shinguards!”
Mohamed Diomande joke showcases Rangers feelgood factor
Fair play to Diomande here, this brilliant gag showcases a couple of things – not least the fact the young lad has some bottle on him to take on one of Rangers’ elder statesmen!
But, more importantly, it shows that there is a great feelgood factor in the Rangers dressing room under Philippe Clement. It was clearly a good-intentioned joke, taken in the right fashion by Balogun, although maybe he wasn’t joking about needing those shinguards…
Rangers already have one trophy in the bag under Philippe Clement, reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup by beating Ayr United 2-0 on Saturday (10 February), and sit just three points back of Celtic in the Scottish Premiership table with a game in hand.
It looks as though everyone in the dressing room is enjoying the ride and the camaraderie among the players is very high. Long may that continue and let’s hope it can yield plenty more silverware before the end of the season.
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