Rangers' Rabbi Matondo injury 'worse' than previously thought

Rabbi Matondo picked up an injury to his hamstring during Rangers’ 3-0 defeat in the Old Firm derby against Celtic at the weekend. It was a depressing outing for fans of the Light Blues - and the anguish does not stop there.

What was previously thought to be a hamstring pull has been diagnosed as a grade three hamstring tear - as such, according to a report from Football Scotland, Matondo will spend a minimum of three months out of action. A grade three tear is considered ‘severe’ and is the highest grade that can be given to such an injury.

This is a major blow to the Gers. Matondo has been one of their most important players in 2024/25 - so far this season, he has scored two goals and has racked up three assists over the course of six games in all competitions. Rangers have had a disappointing start to the season - this will do little to ease the fans’ concerns.

Matondo was brought off in the 38th minute of Rangers’ game against Celtic on Sunday, being replaced by Ross McCausland - the Celts would score their second goal of the outing just two minutes after this. Initially, he tried to play on through the injury - this may have exacerbated the damage done to his hamstring.

In that game, Daizan Maeda opened the scoring for Celtic, followed up by Kyogo Furuhashi - Callum McGregor put the game to bed in the 75th minute when he scored a left-footed piledriver from outside of the area.

He has also been withdrawn from the Wales squad to play Turkiye and Montenegro in the Nations League and will miss out on the Red Dragons’ subsequent fixtures in October. Matondo made his debut for Wales back in 2018 and has won 12 caps for his country since 2018, but has yet to score his first goal on the international stage.