‘It would be an interesting one’ - Kenny Dalglish believes Rangers may be tempted to start Morelos and Colak against Napoli

Sir Kenny Dalglish believes Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst may be tempted to start Alfredo Morelos and Antonio Colak as a strike partnership in their Champions League group stage match against Napoli on Wednesday night.

The Celtic, Liverpool and Scotland icon reckons Colombian frontman Morelos hasn’t done enough in recent games to prove he should be the club’s’ first-choice striker - but insists he does still have a key role to play.

Morelos has spent the majority of the campaign serving as understudy to £1.8million summer signing Colak, who has netted 13 goals in 19 appearances for the Light Blues so far.

In contrast, Morelos has just two goals to his name and hasn’t been able to grasp rare opportunities to impress over the last week after failing to score against Championship side Dundee in the League Cup on Wednesday and during Saturday’s Premiership match against Livingston.

Dalglish has questioned if Morelos, who has looked a shadow of the player he once was since recovering from surgery on a thigh problem, is up for the fight of proving he deserves to keep hold of the jersey.

He admitted: “Alfredo Morelos has been in the news in the past few days after his performance against Dundee in midweek. The Rangers supporters were far from happy with the way he appeared to go about his business for the first 75 minutes he was on the pitch.

“Now, I’ve no idea what was going through the Colombian striker’s head. He rarely speaks to the media, so there won’t be any explanation from him. It could be that he was really looking to do well, and was frustrated at his own performance.

“For sure, it was Alfredo’s chance to impress and show that he is the No.1 striker at Ibrox ahead of Antonio Colak. An opportunity to re-establish himself as the main man between now and the break for the World Cup in mid-November.

“As things turned out, Alfredo may well just have strengthened the Croatian striker’s standing. Again, and I’m surmising here, but it could be that Alfredo is just not up for the fight. Fans will be far from happy if that is the case. The very least they demand it 100% effort for the jersey, and they are quite right to see that as a minimum requirement.”

Morelos and Colak both ended the disappointing 1-1 draw against Livingston on the pitch at the same time as manager Van Bronckhorst desperately tried to salvage a point. Despite John Lundstram’s injury-time equaliser, the Gers lost more ground in the title race to rivals Celtic.

With pressure mounting on Van Bronckhorst amid a poor run of results and performances, Dalglish admits he would be interested to see if the Dutchman decides to finally name Morelos and Colak up front together in Naples as the Glasgow giants continue their search for a first group stage victory.

He added: “Whatever is going on, I don’t particularly want to focus on Alfredo. I’d prefer to look at the merits of Antonio, and the qualities he brings to the table. He has been a superb signing, and has shown he is reliable. He has been the main shining light out of all of Rangers’ summer signings.

“Yet I think there is still a role for Alfredo to play at Rangers. I head Giovanni van Bronckhorst say that there is no reason why Antonio and Alfredo can’t operate as a partnership up front. I’m sure the Rangers manage wouldn’t have mentioned that possibility unless it had seriously crossed his mind.

“He has resisted any temptation so far to do so, but it would be an interesting one. It’s very rare to see a front two at any level these days, but I’m sure Morelos and Colak would be good together, given time. I’m not saying Giovanni should do that on Wednesday night (against Napoli), but he did have them on the pitch together against Livingston.

“But let’s hope that Alfredo focuses in the next few weeks, and is in the headlines for all the right reasons as the games continue to come thick and fast.”