Before the probable Scottish Premiership title matchup between Old Firm rivals Celtic on April 7, a number of first-team players were already dealing with injuries, so Rangers could have done without suffering yet another setback to their fitness over the international break.
Abdallah Sima and Danilo, two of Philippe Clement’s biggest goal threats, are already out of the picture. Oscar Cortes, who has been quite good since joining from Lens in January, is likewise confined to the treatment table. The unfortunate Kieran Dowell is another, and Ryan Jack is a man whose wealth of experience would have been extremely helpful during a brutal title fight.
Therefore, it makes sense that Clement will be hoping the issue that kept Ridvan Yilmaz out of Turkey’s 1-0 loss to Hungary on Friday night is not as bad as initially thought. With only twenty-seven minutes remaining, Yilmaz hobbled away, gripping his upper leg muscle.
Thus, Rangers fans were likely eagerly awaiting Vincenzo Montella’s press conference following the game, where the former striker for Roma, Fulham, and Italy would have given an update on Yilmaz’s condition.
Rangers star replaced due to injury
The manager won’t rule out an early return before next week’s friendly with Austria, but Montella thinks more tests will be necessary before the full scope of Yilmaz’s issue is known.
According to the Daily Record, Montella said, “I will think about this issue.”
“We must assess the athletes’ physical health in football. In addition, I have a strategy in place to help young players get experience in these kinds of games. After giving Yilmaz a thorough review, I will decide.
A Celtic match is expected.
Maybe there’s no news is good news.
If Yilmaz was going to remain sidelined for a long time, that would have been obvious pretty immediately. Perhaps a sign that Yilmaz’s early departure was only preventive, Montella is not yet ruling the left-back out of Tuesday’s match against Austria.
Yilmaz has been one of Clement’s best players from the start of the season, despite being strongly linked to leaving Rangers during the winter transfer window. Yilmaz has been so good that Borna Barisic, who has been with the team for a long time, is now second choice. Yilmaz has started ten of the 13 Premiership games that he has played in.
