Injured Rangers star Borna Barisic returns to the pitch in Croatia’s thumping win over Latvia as late links to NK Dinamo fail to materialise.
The 30-year-old left-back came off the bench for Croatia in the 67th minute of the 5-0 European Championship qualifying victory over Latvia in Rijeka.
And the Rangers star had an instant impact for his country, providing an assist for Andrej Kramaric to make it 4-0 to Croatia before Marko Pasalic completed the rout.
The result leaves Croatia 2nd in European Championship Qualifying Group D, three points behind Turkey who have played two more matches than the Balkans nation.
Borna Barisic’s 32nd Croatia cap also comes after the country’s manager Zlatko Dalic confirmed the Rangers star was available for selection during the international break.
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Borna Barisic returns from injury with Croatia
It comes after Borna Barisic controversially missed the 1-0 Scottish Premiership defeat to Celtic after being subbed off late on in the 5-1 devastation at the hands of PSV Eindhoven.
There remain major questions over the mentality of the left-back – rightly or wrongly – as he enters what will be his sixth season at Ibrox.
Also into the final year of his current Rangers deal, there were reports that Croatian champions NK Dinamo were going to launch a late Borna Barisic move.
With the Croat window closing later than other leagues in Europe, there was a suggestion that they could move for the Rangers star before it slammed shut on the 8th of September.
Whilst reports in Scotland had suggested the links were wide of the mark, that deadline has now passed in Croatia and Borna Barisic is still a Rangers player.
With the left-back set to see out the remainder of his Ibrox contract at least, Rangers will hope that the latest injury to the ex-NK Osijek captain is now behind him.
Croatia now head to Armenia in European Championship qualifying on Monday afternoon.