Rangers defender Borna Barisic missed out completely as Croatia’s Euro 2020 dream ended against Spain in Copenhagen tonight – raising new injury fears over the left-back ahead of a crucial season for the Gers.
The Croatian has only made one, brief, appearance at Euro 2020 so far when he came off the bench against Scotland in the final group game, having missed out on the first two through injury.
With no word on why Barisic missed out on the squad completely – one of three players who had to sit out – there will be concerns he’s suffered a recurrence of the earlier back injury.
While Ivan Perisic was forced to miss out after testing positive for Covid-19, he’s the only member of Zlatko Dalic’s squad who have had to isolate as a result.
Croatia took the lead in Copenhagen after an incredible own goal saw the Spanish keeper make a complete mess of a passback from Pedri before Pablo Sarabia made it 1-1 shortly before the break.
10 minutes after the restart, it was 2-1 to Spain as Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta headed home.
Ferran Torres made it 3-1, leaving Spain looking comfortable and on their way to the last 8 before a goal from Orsic set up a nervy last five minutes.
With two minutes of the six minutes of injury time played in Croatia, the comeback was complete, Pasalic beating the Spanish defenders to head home and spark jubilant scenes from the majority-Croatian crowd.
from the Croatians and Spain now await the winner of France v Switzerland in the quarter-finals.
Rangers will be hoping there’s nothing to worry about
Barisic’s Euro 2020 hasn’t lived up to expectation with the Rangers man spending much of the group stage out injured.
After his club season was also cut short by injury, Rangers will want to get to the bottom of Barisic’s injury and get it fixed.
With Calvin Bassey next in line for Steven Gerrard’s side, losing Barisic for competitive games in the early stage of the new season would be a huge blow for the Gers.
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