Rangers boss Michael Beale has confirmed Brazilian striker Danilo suffered a fractured cheekbone injury in the victory over St Johnstone.
The 24-year-old forward was sharp to bravely nip in front of St Johnstone defender Liam Gordon to open the scoring at McDiarmid Park.
But the defender eventually collided with Danilo in a nasty clash of heads which saw both players substituted due to injury in the match.
Watching Rangers fans feared the worst when Danilo was lying poleaxed on the deck in Perth and Michael Beale has confirmed that the player has had surgery on a fractured cheekbone. Welcome to Scotland!
“In that moment with the injury with the two players, the game stopped for a long time,” Michael Beale said.
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“So obviously they lose one to concussion and he’s fractured his cheekbone Danilo.
“So we’ll have to see how long he’s out for but he’s got a fracture on his face there and he’s away and hopefully will be operated on.
“It’s a really disappointing moment for team that. With Danilo, he’s had a couple of bits going on and he’s had this two weeks to get himself fits and goes and scores.
“It was a real big moment for Danilo to get the injury at the time.”
Michael Beale talks Danilo injury return timeline
When pressed on a potential timescale for Danilo to recover from the injury, Michael Beale said:
“Yeah I just asked the Doc in there, he gave me the news which is obviously not great news to receive.
“In terms of the timescale we’ll need to look to see what to actually do but you could see from the swelling straight away it was a bad one.”
A reported £6m summer signing from Feyenoord, there was excitement around Danilo after he was announced from the start in St Johnstone.
And Michael Beale’s faith in the striker was repaid with the 15th minute header even if disaster was to immediately strike.
The header shows the instinctual striking instinct Danilo has and let’s hope the forward is back amongst the team and overcomes the injury quickly.
The striker himself took to Instagram after the match in an encouraging message to fans as he looks to bounce back from the issue.
Rabbi Matondo would add a second goal for Rangers in the second half of the clash as the club secured a 2-0 victory over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.