The biggest talking point as Rangers headed into their eventual 1-0 Scottish Cup defeat to Hearts was the exclusion of talismanic striker Alfredo Morelos from the matchday squad.
The Colombian forward wasn’t recalled to action at Tynecastle despite being available after Wednesday night’s win over Braga, for which Morelos was suspended.
Steven Gerrard explained that Morelos was given leave to visit his ill mother in Colombia [Daily Record], despite sitting out the Europa League tie.
Gerrard would then reveal that Morelos was dropped for the match because he showed up back at the Rangers Training Centre a day late.
Rangers and Gerrard obviously haven’t found Morelos’ reasons for arriving back late suitable and in-house disciplinary proceedings continue.
But given the eventual result of the match, was leaving Alfredo Morelos out of the side the wrong move, regardless of the situation?
There’s an argument here that Gerrard could’ve kept the issue in-house, forced the player to play and perhaps given Rangers a better chance of beating Hearts.
That said, hindsight is a hell of a thing.
No-one also really knows what’s been said behind closed doors and the club’s supporters will need to trust that this was the best route to deal with the issue.
The old adage no player is bigger than the club rings true here as well.
Alfredo Morelos also got a furious reception from Rangers fans on Twitter for missing the match.
Supporters are beginning to get to the end of their tether with the striker, whose time at Rangers has been marred by disciplinary issues.
Whether Gerrard was right or wrong to exclude Morelos from the match, this has got to be a turning point for the striker’s discipline at Rangers.
The Hearts game was the fifth time Morelos has missed out due to suspension from the club’s 13 matches since the turn of the year.
