Crocked Rangers ace could make stunning return against Hamilton on Friday
By Danny Wright
Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha has revealed that crocked ace Bruno Alves will return to Glasgow on Monday after jetting out to Spain for treatment on a calf injury.
Alves, 35, was forced off the pitch in last Tuesday’s League Cup win over Partick and didn’t feature against Celtic on Saturday while he was away in Madrid doing an “intensive programme” with Cristiano Ronaldo’s trusted physio.
STV reported on Friday that the Portuguese centre-back was facing weeks on the sidelines after picking up his calf injury however Caixinha has now made it clear that he is actually in line to potentially make a stunning comeback as soon as Friday night when the Gers play Hamilton.
“Bruno has a Grade One on his calf, so he’s doing an intensive programme with Cristiano Ronaldo’s physio in Madrid,” he said, as quoted by BBC Sport on their website on Sunday.
“He started on Friday and we hope to have him back on Monday to do tests to see if he’s able to play next Friday.”
Teenager Ross McCrorie came into the Gers starting line-up against Celtic on Saturday and was certainly one player who could hold his head up high after a brilliant display in the 2-0 loss to the Hoops.
Caixinha believes that the young defender did a sublime job next to Fabio Cardoso in the heart of the Rangers rearguard while Alves was making his recovery in Madrid.
“McCrorie is a player I don’t have doubts about. I like Ross a lot and he did really well,” Caixinha added.
“He didn’t shake and didn’t fail the test. That’s his mentality. He did his job okay on Saturday.”
Rangers will be looking to bounce back from their Old Firm loss against Hamilton this week and it will no doubt be a major boost to their chances should Alves return.
The Euro 2016 winner has been largely dubbed as the best signing Caixinha has made since taking charge at Ibrox and even though McCrorie gave a good account of himself, he will be fully expected to drop on to the bench should Alves be fit to play.
In other Rangers news, Celtic icon Chris Sutton crucified this Light Blues player for his decision ahead of the Old Firm clash.
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