Rangers manager Philippe Clement is facing a possible defensive crisis against Celtic after he revealed injured captain James Tavernier ruled out for “a few weeks”.
The right-back picked up the knock in Sunday’s 2-2 Premiership draw at Motherwell and joins centre-back John Souttar (groin) and defender Neraysho Kasanwirjo (knee) on the sidelines ahead of Thursday’s Old Firm game at Ibrox.
Clement revealed 36-year-old Leon Balogun, who suffered an injury in the Boxing Day defeat at St Mirren which caused him to miss the Well game, has a “very, very, very small chance” of making it. If fit, he would take over from utility player Dujon Sterling, who would move from central defence to replace Tavernier.
It is a challenging situation for Clement, who is under huge pressure with his team 14 points behind leaders Celtic as he looks for his first win over Celtic since arriving at Ibrox in October 2023. In six Old Firm matches so far, Clement has drawn one and lost five.
“There’s a very, very, very small chance that Leon Balogun can return,” Clement said in his pre-match press conference. We will see. He did some individual work today. Nobody will come back into the squad and we lose Tav also, who got an injury at the end of the game.
“We took a scan, and there’s clear damage there so he will be out for a few weeks. It needs to be possible (for Leon) to play. You cannot play on one leg. We always take risks, and you have to do that in this business, but no crazy risks, that players can be out for months. So that will not be the case with Leon but we will see if he’s ready or not.
“So that’s what the team has been doing all the time, and they did well, only the last two games we lost goals a little bit out of nothing, not with really clear mistakes or being out of structure, totally not.
“But in these last two games every time that they have had a shot on goal, it’s almost a goal. Those are the things that sometimes happen in football but normally not two games in a row, but it’s been the case, and we have been chasing games because of that.
“So we need to find solutions now.”
In stark contrast, Celtic only have one injury concern and that is with their experienced right winger James Forrest, who is likely to be sidelined until February with a foot issue.
“Apart from James [Forrest], everyone is good and fit and healthy for the game,” reported their manager Brendan Rodgers, who once again will need to decide whether to play Arne Engels or Paulo Bernardo in a midfield three alongside captain Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate.
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