Barisic certain international trip will be safe
BORNA Barisic last night dismissed concerns that he could be forced to go into quarantine when he returns to Scotland after the international break and miss important Rangers matches.
Barsisic flew to Zagreb yesterday to meet up with the Croatia squad ahead of their Nations League games against Portugal in Porto on Saturday and France in Paris a week tomorrow.
Steven Gerrard could have prevented the left- back and the other foreign players in his Ibrox squad from travelling abroad under coronavirus guidelines introduced by FIFA.
However, the former England captain is keen for his charges to represent their countries and is hopeful that national associations will follow strict Covid- 19 testing protocols while they are away.
Barisic, who helped Rangers equal a Scottish top- flight clean sheet record in the 2- 0 win over Hamilton at the weekend, is completely confident he will be available for selection on his return to Glasgow.
“We have a document that says we are elite sportsmen so we can travel normally,” he said. “Of course, we will be tested, but it will be no problem. I have no worries about it.
“There have been more concerns recently because we are in the summer and a lot of tourists travel now too. The clubs have been concerned about the situation and maybe it’s a little bit worse than it was a couple of months ago. But everything will be fine for sure.”
Barisic, who has established himself as Croatia’s first- choice left- back in the past year, is keen to be involved in the Nations League matches in the coming days.
He is hopeful that playing against Portugal and France, who are placed seventh and second in the FIFA World Rankings respectively, will improve him as a defender and benefit Rangers going forward.
He said: “They are two good games – France, the world champions, and Portugal, the European champions. They are very good teams. I am looking forward to playing against these teams. That is why you train and that is why you play –
to play against teams like Portugal and France.
“If you want to progress and become a better player you need to play against better opponents. I cannot imagine better teams than Portugal and France. They are two of the best teams in the world for sure.
“I think the experience of playing against them will help me a lot. One hundred per cent it will help me to become a better player and will help me when I come back here with Rangers.”
Asked if the second outing gave his country the chance to avenge their Russia 2018 final defeat, he said: “Yeah, of course. But the situation is now completely different because some of the players still aren’t training, some of them have just started training, some of them will not come. It will not be the same. But, yes, it will still be Croatia and France playing.”
The 12- times capped 27- yearold added that he believes his £ 2.2m move to Rangers in 2018 has helped him to feature more regularly with Croatia.
“I had some problems here before with injuries,” he said. “I couldn’t establish myself. But, of course, when you come to Rangers it is a bigger club and a bigger stage. And all of this helped me to play better. If you play better you have more of a chance to establish yourself with your country like I have now. I am very happy because of that.
“I have a lot of confidence just now. I think that I have played very well at the start of the season. But it is not just personal it is also because the team plays well. If the team plays well there is more chance that you will play well.”