Rangers' World Cup flag bearer thanks Ibrox club for helping him achieve Qatar dream

Rangers defender Borna Barisic won’t simply be flying the flag for Croatia at the World Cup.

Rangers Borna Barisic is confident the Ibrox club can set about chasing down Celtic in the title race when he returns from representing his country Croatia and his club at the Qatar World Cup finals. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

The amiable 30-year-old will head off for Qatar at the weekend firm in the belief that he will also be representing the Ibrox side in the tournament. The left-back is the sole player from his club to have been selected for any one of the 32 nations participating in the finals. It is a distinction to which he does not merely pay lip service.

“It’s one of the biggest dreams [of any player to be there]. What can I say? it’s the World Cup. You are representing your country, your family,” Barisic said. “And that dream has come true, you know? So I’m very thankful to Rangers because they gave me the opportunity that if I play good here I can be called for the national team. I want to thank the staff, players and everyone around the club because they are a big part of this. And I will represent Rangers also, so I’m very happy and proud. “

As a player who will always believe in the ability to achieve special outcomes in football, Barisic will return to his club for the resumption of the cinch Premiership in mid-December convinced Rangers can move on from “the difficult moment” of now to turnaround their title fortunes. A win is likely to be required away to St Mirren on Saturday to remain within seven points of leaders Celtic. A gap he refuses to see as too big to close.

“Too big? Nothing is too big. We have seen a lot of things and everything can change in just a few games,” he said. “So I don’t think it’s too big. It’s not small, of course. We cannot go from that. We are second and that’s it. That can change in two or three games. We play against them like three times more, right? Everything can change. I think this World Cup break will be good for us because [injured] players will come back and it will much easier to play having a bigger and deeper squad.”