Rangers defender Filip Helander ruled out for the season as Giovanni van Bronckhorst provides injury update on first-team stars

Rangers defender Filip Helander has been ruled out for the rest of the season after sustaining a foot injury.

The Swedish centre-back was forced off during the first half of Sunday’s 4-0 Premiership win over St Mirren at the SMiSA Stadium.

Manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst confirmed Helander, who wasn’t named in the Ibrox club’s Europa League squad, will not return until pre-season.

It remains uncertain whether Helander will require surgery but it marks another major blow for the Dutchman, who has already lost top goalscorer Alfredo Morelos to a thigh injury.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s Europa League quarter final second leg against Braga at Ibrox, Van Bronckhorst said: “Filip’s injury is not good, so we don’t have him for the remainder of the season.

“He has had a history of injuries unfortuntely for him and unfortunately for us to not be able to pick him.

“I don’t know yet if he needs surgery but he has a foot injury, an injury he had as well in the other foot, so all I can say now is we are going to make sure he is going to be ready for pre-season next season.”

Midfielder John Lundstram also suffered a knock against the Buddies and was unable to continue, but Van Bronckhorst revealed the will take part in training as Rangers attempt to overcome a 1-0 deficit against the Portuguese outfit.

He added: “John is training today, so hopefully he will pass training and be available for tomorrow.”

Defender Calvin Bassey and midfielder Ryan Jack are back in the squad after missing Sunday’s trip to Paisley.

Van Bronckhorst is eyeing a place in the last four of the competition, where they will face either Atalanta or RB Leipzig, who drew 1-1 in their first-leg clash.

He stated: “We knew it was a very good opponent. We had a result which we can overcome tomorrow.

“When you play an opponent you have a better view of the team and players individually. We have prepared well again.

“It is a big game which need a big performance from everyone, but I am confident we can have a good result.

“We know what the task is, we know which areas we can improve, so for us it’s just making sure we are playing the way we can, because you need it at this stage in Europe. We will be ready for tomorrow.”

Asked if the next four days could be season-defining for the club, Van Bronckhorst replied: “We’re focused on tomorrow firstly and reaching the semi-finals of a European competition, which would be a tremendous achievement.

“We are capable of doing that and we need to take it game by game. We should enjoy tomorrow night and embrace the challenge we’re going to face.”