Rangers FC take on Celtic in the Scottish Premiership this Sunday and Steven Gerrard has confirmed that Borna Barisic will miss this game.
The left-back picked up a hamstring injury while playing for Croatia against Hungary but instead of returning back to Scotland to get treatment at Ibrox, the player stayed with the national side.
And according to Steven Gerrard, this delay has caused Borna Barisic to miss the Old Firm Derby and the Gers boss is not at all pleased with the way Croatia have chosen to handle the situation.
“Borna is out, but he’s the only one,” Gerrard confirmed.
“He’s not available, which is disappointing because he should be available. Croatia should have sent him straight back. I think the player should have come straight back.
“While he had a small chance, I think he should have, but we never got him back till a couple of days late, for whatever reason.
“We pay the players’ wages. When players are injured on international duty, they should be sent back on the next available flight, then our medical team can take over.
“The countries have got to take responsibility for that.
“We’ll change the rules for all our players moving forward from the summer.
“If you get injured with your national team, be on the next flight.
“If you’re not on the next flight, you are going to leave yourself wide open to a punishment.”
With Borna Barisic absent, Andy Halliday should slot into the left-back role on Sunday something which the 27-year-old midfielder has done a number of times this season.
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