Rangers star Borna Barisic was booked in a four-goal international thriller on Monday night after being recalled to Croatia’s starting XI.
Despite being the first-choice left-back for some time ahead of the tournament, Barisic only made one substitute appearance at Euro 2020 due to a niggling back injury and since then, rival Borna Sosa had started three of their four World Cup Qualifiers, including a win over Cyprus at the end of last week.
However, Barisic was drafted back into Zlatko Dalic’s XI on Monday night for an important home game against Slovakia in Osijek.
The hosts were never in front in the contest but they did manage to salvage a point.
Andrej Kramaric levelled the scores five minutes after Ivan Schranz’s 20th-minute opener and although Lukas Haraslin restored the visitors’ lead on the stroke of half-time, captain Luka Modric made it 2-2 in the 71st minute, scoring from a free-kick.
Nikola Vlasic briefly thought he’d given the hosts victory, but his 84th-minute strike was ruled out for offside in the build-up following a VAR check.
Barisic played the full 90 minutes at left-back and was booked for a foul in the final minute of normal time.
The Rangers star, who hasn’t been given consistent playing time for club or country during the early stages of the season, achieved a WhoScored.com rating of 6.7 for his performance, a middling rating when compared with his teammates.
Croatia now sit second in Group H after eight matches, two points behind new leaders Russia following their 2-1 win in Slovenia.
In other news, there are injury concerns regarding a Rangers star after he was forced off in an international match.
