Leon Balogun suffers Rangers injury blow as defender forced off against Livingston
The Nigerian lasted just 22 minutes before being subbed off for John Souttar
Rangers have suffered another injury blow after Leon Balogun was forced off early against Livingston.
The Nigerian stopper started at the heart of the defence alongside Connor Goldson for today’s Premiership meeting at Ibrox. But he lasted just 22 minutes following a clash of heads with Livi centre-half Shaun Donnellan. Balogun received medical treatment on the pitch during a pause of play but failed to recover from the accidental collision and was withdrawn for John Souttar.
It comes after the 35-year-old missed out on a place in Rangers’ Europa League last 16 squad as boss Philippe Clement’s hands were left tied. Clement aimed a thinly veiled pop at his predecessor Michae Beale by admitting he wasn’t happy with how the list was originally drawn up.
Balogun wasn’t registered for the group stage squad, and with Rangers only allowed to make three changes, Ridvan Yilmaz, Fabio Silva and Mohamed Diomande were added. Clement explained: “If you look at finding a balance, then Ridvan needs to be in. You need two full-backs, that was a problem in the first round. If there was a problem with Borna Barisic we didn’t have any left-back.
“That was a difficult point on that European list that I have submitted today. Sam Lammers is out, so Fabio Silva is in. That’s logical. Cifu is probably out so Diomande comes in instead of him.
“Ridvan will come on the list so that means Leon Balogun, Kieran Dowell and Cortes cannot be on the list. That hurts me. We have been puzzling for hours with the staff these past few days and you always come to the same conclusions. You cannot keep the balance unless you make these changes.”
