NOW BRING ON THE BIG GUNS
Barisic continues to shine for Rangers as Croat eyes dates with Ronaldo and Mbappe
THE European champions, followed by the world champions. Cristiano Ronaldo, then Kylian Mbappe. This international break will see Borna Barisic elevated into stratospheric company.
Already the most effective leftback in the Scottish Premiership, the Croatian views a Nations League double-header against Portugal and France as the perfect opportunity to continue his drive for improvement.
Competing against the very best will, Barisic believes, enable him to offer even more to Rangers when he returns intent on preserving their position at the top of the table.
Excellent performances for Steven Gerrard’s side have earned him the status of a first-pick for his country at the age of 27. Feeding international experience back into his club job can now deliver mutual benefits.
Barisic’s indispensable influence was witnessed again in aspects of Saturday’s routine, if rather wasteful, win over Hamilton.
Starting the season with a sixth successive clean sheet saw Rangers equal a 114-year-old Scottish record. The quality of his crossing could easily have delivered more goals at the other end.
Pushing so persistently high up the pitch may not be advised when confronted by superstars in Porto and Paris. Barisic, though, will savour the different level of challenge that awaits over the coming nine days.
‘If you want to progress and become a better player, you need to play against better opponents and better teams,’ he said. ‘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 help me when I come back here with Rangers.
‘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. I am very happy because of how we have started the season.’
Barisic was named in the preliminary Croatia squad for the 2018 World Cup but was cut from the final 23-man selection. He watched from home as his nation made it all the way to the final before losing to the French side they will now meet again.
Moving to Rangers in a £1.5million switch from Osijek later that summer was not immediately a transformative bargain. Barisic (below) did initially struggle with injuries and settling into Scottish football, but has since flourished to become an important part of the Croatia set-up under head coach Zlatko Dalic.
‘I couldn’t establish myself at first,’ reflected Barisic. ‘But 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 done. I am very happy because of that.’
This will be the first set of international fixtures taking place under the shadow of coronavirus. Croatia features on the Government quarantine list — as does France — but Barisic explained that the necessary procedures and paperwork have been put in place to enable him to reach the bio-secure bubble of his national squad and return again without any anticipated complications. ‘We have document that says we are elite sportsmen, so that we can travel normally,’ he said. ‘We will be tested but it will be no problem. I have no worries about it. ‘I go to Zagreb and stay there for three days. We then fly to Porto to face Portugal and then we play France in Paris. I come back home here after that.’ Barisic will return to preparations for a Premiership meeting with Dundee United at Ibrox on September 12. Starting with the intensity initially shown against Accies on Saturday would be a positive. Gerrard, though, will be hoping to see his side sustain a much more clinical threat throughout games.
The Ibrox boss did admit to a concern that missing chances to hammer home superiority might one day catch up with them.
Two ahead after 20 minutes, Rangers looked set to record a landslide victory at the Fountain of Youth Stadium. Credit Hamilton for the second-half rejig in both shape and attitude, but you could understand Gerrard’s element of frustration.
An undoubted positive came in another excellent individual performance from Ryan Kent.
In terms of movement, tactical awareness and decision-making, the 23-year-old is looking a more complete player this season.
So much of Rangers’ play is now channelled though his feet and it’s a responsibility he looks to be relishing. Gerrard will hope the rejection of an initial £10million offer from Leeds — and the player’s contentment in Glasgow
— has sent out a message that will be heeded in the remaining five weeks of this window.
It was Kent’s angled drive that led to James Tavernier knocking in the second goal after Accies keeper Ryan Fulton had parried.
Ianis Hagi scored the first on 15 minutes. Kemar Roofe, starting up front with Alfredo Morelos on the bench, hit the bar with a header before the Romanian fired home. Hagi could have had the match ball had he taken the chances Kent subsequently provided.
A lovely flicked one-two led to him blasting directly against Fulton. Later came a header over the top from a precise left-foot cross.
Hagi was unluckier with a shot deflected wide after another nimble exchange with Kent.
Brandon Barker and Roofe also passed up chances to turn the screw, although the latter really should have been the recipient of a penalty when pushed over by
The experience of playing against them will help me to become a better player when I come back to Rangers
Scott McMann. Booked in the first half for a foul on Kent, McMann received a second yellow card from Willie Collum with 15 minutes left for halting Barker’s attempt to break.
That dismissal came not long after Hamilton’s best chance. Reegan Mimnaugh’s corner was met by a glancing header from Shaun Want, but Jon McLaughlin reacted superbly to maintain the clean sheet run.
Retaining McLaughlin ahead of Allan McGregor is one of several pleasant selection issues for Gerrard to now ponder during the international shutdown.
HAMILTON (4-4-1-1): Fulton 6; Hodson 5, Odoffin 6, Want 5, McMann 5; Martin 6, Trafford 5 (Hamilton 46), Mimnaugh 5 (Munro 77), Winter 6 (Smith 82); Callachan 6; Ogkmpoe 6 (Moyo 82). Subs not used: Gourlay, Templeton, Fjortoft, Owolabi, Johnson. Booked: McMann, Callachan. Sent off: McMann. RANGERS (4-2-3-1): McLaughlin 7; Tavernier 7, Goldson 7, Helander 7, Barisic 7; Jack 8, Davis 7; Barker 6, Hagi 6 (Arfield 82), Kent 8; Roofe 7 (Stewart 90). Subs not used: McGregor, Bassey, Patterson, Kamara, Morelos, Jones, Balogun. Booked: Goldson, Barker. Man of the match: Ryan Kent. Referee: Willie Collum.