COMPLEX CAUS
Rangers star Ross McCausland OUT of Scotland game with ‘complex’ injury as Northern Ireland boss reveals Clement talks
He's not the only one to be crocked this week
RANGERS' growing injury problems just got 'a little bit complex'.
Rather than recuperation for his squad, this international break has seen Philippe Clement add Ridvan Yilmaz and Ross McCausland to the Ibrox crock list.
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The duo have joined Oscar Cortes, Abdallah Sima, Kieran Dowell and Danilo on the injury table heading into a crucial title run-in for the Gers.
McCausland was sent home from Northern Ireland duty to rehab last week with an outside chance of making his nation's second match of the international double-header - a local match against Scotland at Hampden.
Michael O'Neill ruled him out of tomorrow night's clash after leaving him out last week's trip to Romania.
And now the boss has revealed he's held behind the scenes talks with Rangers boss Clement over the young winger's condition.
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McCausland's issue is more 'complex' than first thought the Northern Ireland chief says.
He's been in and out the Gers side since a crunching challenge from Dan Casey forced him off in the home defeat to Motherwell and went off again in the Scottish Cup win over Hibs.
But the 20-year-old had hoped for some international involvement this month and that's been ruled out by boss O'Neill who wants to avoids an 'uncomfortable situation'.
He said: “I don’t think it’s particularly serious. It’s a little bit complex from my understanding from the medical team.
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"He was optimistic, but he has played with pain since he had the initial challenge and the injury.
“I spoke to Philippe Clement and they had him on the bench against Benfica, but I don’t think that realistically they intended to use him in that situation.
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"He has got a lot to play for between now and the end of the season. We are conscious of that.
"So we don’t want to put him in a situation where we are bringing him off the bench and he is uncomfortable in that way.
“We just hope that he recovers quickly because the most important thing is that Ross is playing for Rangers and playing regularly because then we have got another player who is playing at a level where obviously we get a lot from that player playing on the international stage.”
Gers will also face an injury sweat over left-back Yilmaz who was crocked in Turkey's match with Hungary last week.
He suffered an injury in his 'upper thigh muscle' and now faces a race against time to be fit for the Old Firm match a week on Sunday.
Before then, the left-back, and McCausland, could be a major doubt for Gers' SPFL return against Hibs this weekend.
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