Move over Jonathan Woodgate; We have a new candidate for the worst debut of all time thanks to the miserable first outing in a Leganes shirt for former Rangers full-back Borna Barisic.
An outing that was cut short with just ten minutes on the clock.
Now, this was not a nightmare of Borna Barisic’s own doing. Unlike Woodgate all those years ago – an own goal and a red card on his infamous Real Madrid bow – the Croatia international’s own misery was borne out of pure misfortune rather than ineptitude.
Leganes confirmed, after former Rangers favourite Barisic hit the turf clutching his knee, that the January signing from Trabzonspor had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament. An injury destined to keep him on the sidelines for most of – if not all of – the calendar year.
Furthermore, given that the experienced full-back is due to turn 33 in November, there are very real fears that the curtain might just have been drawn very prematurely on a career which should have had a few years remaining.
Far younger players than Rangers’ old number three have struggled to mount a return, after all, on the back of such a devastating blow.
Leganes break silence as Borna Barisic’s post-Rangers nightmare goes on
Relegation-threatened Leganes will, therefore, have do without a player who’s vast experience was supposed to be a difference-maker in a fierce battle against the drop.
Borja Jimenez’s side face Deportivo Alaves in a proverbial six pointer this weekend.
And, speaking out for the first time after the extent of Barisic’s injury became clear, Leganes’ head coach is praying that happier times are just around the corner following a week that would test even the most optimistic of men.
“He is upset because he has had bad luck. It has been the most difficult week of the year emotionally,” the embattled Borja sighs, Leganes losing 2-0 at fellow strugglers Valencia days after suffering Copa del Rey heartbreak to Real Madrid and going down to ten-men in a home defeat by Rayo Vallecano.
“I felt guilty. [Barisic] comes to help and he can’t. He has to be helped, so that the operation goes well.
“I think that what happens around the club affects everyone. Here and in all clubs. We are people. We have feelings. Last week, a lot of negative things happened to us. On a mental level, the other day they were affected, especially by what happened with Barisic.
“That situation is complex.”
Barisic has endured a miserable time after leaving Ibrox
Borja, who threw Barisic in at the deep end with Leganes crying out for solutions at left-back, now finds himself all the way back in the uncomfortable surroundings of square one.
The coach dropped Javi Hernandez, his go-to left-sided defender for the first few months of the season, in preparation for a new signing to take his place. Now, as Lady Luck once again frowns down on Leganes, Borja may have no choice but to awkwardly reintroduce Hernandez to the role Barisic was supposed to make his own at the Estadio Municipal Butarque.
News of a potential nine month lay-off, meanwhile, caps off what has been a disastrous first season away from Ibrox for the former NK Osijek wideman.
Barisic struggled to nail down a place at Trabzonspor – in stark contrast to John Lundstram – and that switch to Spain was supposed to represent a clean slate and a fresh start.
Instead, all that new adventure brings is months of painful rehabilitation and a career on pause.
