With so much riding on the game, Rangers need to risk Borna Barisic against Rapid Vienna on Thursday night.
It’s set to be a make or break clash with Vienna in Austria ahead of a crunch night of Europa League action. Rangers know that a win will put them through to the last 32, but anything else will result in elimination from the competition.
It’s going to be a pressure game tomorrow night in Vienna. Therefore, Steven Gerrard must choose his best starting XI to take part. That involves Croatian internationalist Barisic.
The Croatia star has been sidelined for the last six weeks or so with a calf injury. Usually, this would mean that the returning player would slowly be integrated into the team once more so as to not aggravate the previous injury.
Whilst there’s some real logic to that, Barisic looked in fine fettle against Dundee on Sunday. Despite the generally abysmal performance from Rangers, Barisic was one of the bright spots when he came on for the final half-hour.
No ill affects from the injury
Most importantly, Barisic showed a desire and ability to bomb up and down the left. He put in plenty of crosses at Dens Park, and always made himself available. He added some priceless width, and linked up well with Glenn Middleton.
Therefore, Gerrard needs to bite the bullet and field his Croatian weapon on Thursday night. These are exactly the kind of games the likes of Barisic was brought in for. He has that bit of extra quality that the club need to get a result in Austria.
Despite having played a lot less games than Jon Flanagan and Andy Halliday, Barisic has proved to be Rangers’ best left-back in his eight appearances made. He’s also made his debut for the World Cup runners-up, and is one of the club’s most prized assets.
Starting him on Thursday night would perhaps be a risk. He’s still only days into his return from that nasty knock. Rangers, however, didn’t splash out £2.2million on him to miss big games like tomorrow night’s.
He’s fit, available, and the best option Rangers have. He simply must be risked as the club go all out for Europa League last-32 qualification.
