International

Rangers star Borna Barisic’s Croatia camp rocked by Covid-19 positive

Add as preferred source on Google

Borna Barisic and the Croatia national football team have been rocked by the news that one of the Rangers star’s international teammates has tested positive for Covid-19.

Inter Milan winger Ivan Perišić is a leading player for the Balkans nation but has been forced into isolation ahead of the crunch Euro 2020 Last 16 clash with Spain on Monday.

Ivan Perišić, 32, is one of the club’s leading attacking talents and his absence from the fixture will come as a sizeable blow to Croatia.

A Croatian national team statement reads:

“During Saturday evening, Croatian Football Federation received the results of regular testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which showed that player Ivan Perišić has tested positive for novel coronavirus.

“Medical staff isolated Ivan from the other members of the national team and immediately and thoroughly informed competent epidemiological authorities about the situation, providing evidence of complying with all the necessary measures aimed at protection against the spread of coronavirus.

“Perišić will spend 10 days in self-isolation and during that period will not participate at the matches of the Croatian national team.

“All other players, staff and delegation members tested negative. National team will be traveling from Pula on Sunday 27 June with a charter flight to Copenhagen, where it plays a Round of 16 match of the UEFA EURO 2020 against Spain on Monday.”

Borna Barisic – who plays on the same left-hand side as Perisic – has seen his tournament severely impacted by a back injury which kept him out of the nation’s first two games.

Belgium v Croatia -International Friendly
Rangers star Borna Barisic with Croatia internationals Domagoj Vida and Ivan Perišić. (Photo by Angelo Blankespoor/Soccrates/Getty Images)

The popular left-back went into the tournament as the nation’s first-choice in the position and will be hoping to start against Spain after fully recovering from the knock.

Here’s an injury update directly from Borna himself as he puts his full focus on the games which are left at the tournament after returning to action against Scotland.