STEVEN GERRARD will order his players to return from international duty as soon as they pick up an injury after Borna Barisic was ruled out of the Old Firm clash with Celtic.
The left-back will be out of action for up to three weeks after sustaining an ankle knock whilst playing for Croatia in their surprise defeat to Hungary.
And Gerrard is frustrated at losing the services of Barisic on the eve of a must-win derby showdown at Parkhead.
He said: “Just Barisic. He’s out. He’s not available, which is disappointing because he should be available.
“In my opinion, he should be available. Croatia should have sent him straight back. I think the player should have come straight back.
“While he had a small chance, I think he should have, but we never got him back till a couple of days late, for whatever reason. I’m not really interested but he’s not available for us.
READ MORE: Our writers give their predictions ahead of Sunday's Old Firm
“You’ll have to ask the player that question. You’ll have to ask the player or Croatia that question. I just believe we pay the players’ wages.
“When they’re injured, they should be sent back on the next available flight straight away. The countries have to take responsibility for that.
“If I’m a national team manager and someone gets injured, I think out of respect for the club he should be on the first flight back and our medical team should take over. We’ll change the rules for all our players moving forward from the summer.
“If you get injured with your national team, be on the next flight. If you’re not on the next flight, you are going to leave yourself wide open to a punishment.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel