Rangers star drafted into Scotland squad as late replacement for injured Celtic ace ahead of Portugal clash

Rangers midfielder Connor Barron has been drafted into the Scotland squad as a late replacement for crocked Celtic star James Forrest ahead of tomorrow’s Nations League clash with Portugal.

The 22-year-old joined up with Steve Clarke’s side on Monday morning after the squad returned from Zagreb yesterday following their 2-1 defeat to Croatia.

Former Aberdeen ace Barron, who received his first senior call-up during last month’s international double-header, is yet to make his debut but has impressed for the Ibrox club during the early stages of his maiden season in Glasgow.

He played the full 90 minutes for Scotland under-21s in the damaging 2-0 defeat to Belgium at Tynecastle on Friday night and was training with Scot Gemmill’s youngsters ahead of their make-or-break qualifier away to Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

Reports emerged over the weekend that Barron had picked up a knock and hadn’t travelled with the 21s squad for the game. However, that was not the case and the situation has now become clear. On Friday, Celtic winger Forrest was ruled out of both Saturday's game in Croatia and the upcoming showdown with Portugal. No replacement was called-up prior to the first game in Zagreb, but head coach Steve Clarke has decided to add to his options just 24 hours before facing Cristiano Ronaldo and co at Hampden.

The Scots are looking to halt a dismal run of just one in FIFTEEN matches, with Clarke’s men losing all three of their Nations League Group A1 games so far. A last-gasp 3-2 home defeat to Poland was followed by a similarly crushing 2-1 loss to Portugal in Lisbon last month. And there was more heartbreak on Saturday, going down 2-1 away to Croatia with VAR ruling out Che Adams’ stoppage-time equaliser.