Rangers injury woes mount as Michael Beale fears Rabbi Matondo knee problem a ‘bad one’

Rangers boss Michael Beale has confessed the knee injury suffered by Rabbi Matondo against Motherwell could be a “bad one”.

The Welshman, who played a major role in the only goal of the match as his powerful striker deflected off Cyriel Dessers to hand the Gers a narrow 1-0 win at Ibrox, was forced off in the first half after sustaining a knock to the outside of his knee.

The 23-year-old went to ground on more than one occasion and was deemed unable to continue after receiving treatment from the club’s medical team.

It’s the latest in a growing list of injury troubles for Beale, with Matondo enjoying somewhat of a revival in Govan after spending the majority of last season either on the bench or left out of the matchday squad.

Many supporters believed the former Schalke star could be part of Beale’s summer clearout, but he has made an important impact so far this term, especially as a substitute including late goals against PSV Eindhoven in Champions League qualifying and St Johnstone last weekend.

However, Matondo could now be facing a lenghty period on the sidelines, with Beale confirming in his post-match press conference that it could be a serious injury.

Providing an update on the player’s condition, he said: “Rabbi today, we think that might be a bad one. He’s taken a blow on the outside of his knee. I need to see it back but when I came in that’s the information I was given.

Before kick-off on Sunday, Beale admitted he will be without the services of attacking midfielder Tom Lawrence for “two or three games” due to a calf issue picked up against Real Betis. Lawrence was replaced with suspected cramp before the problem was diagnosed to be more serious.

Issuing a fresh injury update Beale stated: “He (Lawrence) won’t play this side of the international duty. He has a problem with a calf. The international duty sounds like it’s longer because that is a two week break but he will return with Todd (Cantwell), Nico (Raskin) and Danilo.

“Kieran (Dowell) might be back in the middle of the week to play at the weekend but obviously he’s lacking a bit of fitness.”