Rangers star readies himself for return by cooking his football boots

Fabio Cardoso is nearing a return to the Rangers first-team after missing the last three matches through injury.

The Portuguese centre-back sustained a broken nose in an aerial challenge with Motherwell striker Ryan Bowman during his side’s 2-0 Betfred Cup semi-final defeat.

Cardoso tweeted out to his 24,500 followers on Monday afternoon, saying he was “almost back”.

Oddly, he chose to accompany the tweet with a boomerang video showing his Nike football boots heating up in the oven.

Cardoso had a 100 per cent appearance record before his injury, though there’s no guarantee he’ll immediately return to the starting XI.

Bruno Alves watched on from the bench on Saturday as Rangers recorded a second consecutive win with Danny Wilson and Ross McCrorie as the centre-back pairing.