Blow for Rangers as Nicolas Raskin and Danilo ruled out for at least six games

Rangers have been dealt a blow ahead of their Europa League opener against Real Betis with news that Nico Raskin has been sidelined with injury.

The player was injured in last weekend’s win over St Johnstone and has been ruled out until after the next international window, meaning he will miss at least six matches.

“Nico is going to be out until after the international break with a calf problem,” Rangers manager Michael Beale said. “He took a kick in the game and it’s given him a problem with the muscle.

“So him, Todd [Cantwell] and Danilo are the three missing.”

The injury will see Raskin miss the Real Betis match at Ibrox, home games against Motherwell, Livingston and Aberdeen, as well as trips to face Aris Limassol and St Mirren.

While Beale acknowledged that he was losing a player who has been a regular starter since joining the club last January, the manager said he had a ready-made replacement.

“The reason Jose Cifuentes didn’t play at the weekend was that he didn’t arrive back (from international duty) from South America and playing at altitude until the Friday morning,” he said.

“So he’s ready to go and Ryan Jack is there as well. It doesn’t change in terms of us having options in midfield.

“Obviously Nico has been playing and has probably been one of our stronger performers so in that sense we’re loosing a good player, but we’ve got a good player coming in.”

The Rangers boss also gave an update on Brazilian forward Danilo, who fractured his cheekbone while scoring the opener against St Johnstone on Saturday.

“I saw him yesterday and he still looks sore,” Beale said. “He had successful surgery on the areas, it’s not just one, on the areas it impacted.

“I would expect him to be back in non-contact training towards the back of the international window so ideally he would be back the first week after the October internationals but it might be a couple of weeks after that.

“He’s got another consultant appointment in two weeks so we’ll just have to see.”