Barry Ferguson has slammed the door on Borna Barisic’s Rangers career by ruling him out of the Scottish Cup final – eight days before the clash.
The Croatian left-back is rumoured to have signed a pre-contract with Trabzonspor in Turkey with his contract expiring this summer. His possible Ibrox farewell didn’t see him get on the pitch midweek against Dundee in a 5-2 win, with Ridvan Yilmaz started ahead of him and youngster Robbie Fraser brought on instead.
There’s one more game to in the Premiership season against Hearts on Saturday before a Hampden showdown with Celtic on May 25th. Whether he features at Tynecastle is unknown but Ferguson is adamant there’s zero possibility of Barisic playing against Celtic.
He told Go Radio: “Certainly Barisic, he didn’t start [against Dundee] and it was brilliant to see another academy graduate get an opportunity and he did really well, played a couple of brilliant balls into the box. That tells you that Barisic has absolutely no chance of being involved.”
Meanwhile, the former captain wrote in his Daily Record column of his Rangers pain watching Celtic clinch the title again. He added: “There was no shortage of options to feed my football fix on Wednesday night but the TV was only set for one game – Celtic at Kilmarnock. No matter how painful, how torturous I knew it was going to be.
“And believe me the last day has been excruciating for everyone connected to Rangers after Celtic secured the title. But you know what? I made myself sit through it all. I took in every minute of the game AND the celebrations.
“With a clenched jaw and furrowed brow I sat and watched the Celtic players dancing, singing and celebrating with their fans – and refused to turn off. Why? Because this has to be the driving force now. If I was still pulling on a Rangers top then those scenes would be the motivation for me to do everything in my power to stop Celtic at the next possible opportunity.
“And that just so happens to be the Scottish Cup Final in eight days’ time. Brilliant. What a chance to have the last say on the season and be the ultimate party poopers. Okay it’s not the big one that everyone wanted, the league title. But I’ll tell you what – the Scottish Cup is a huge honour and the last Old Firm Final back in 2002 is probably the best game I have ever been involved in.
“What do I think? I will tell you after 5pm next Saturday. People asking if there’s a mentality problem in the dressing room at Ibrox would hurt me deeply if I was still involved. The great thing about football is there’s always another opportunity to answer the critics.
“Rangers will have half of Hampden behind them for the showpiece finale of the Scottish season. There will be millions more watching on TV across the world. What a time to answer the critics. To shut people up.”
