Rangers coach reveals thinking behind decision to start Lundstram ahead of Balogun vs Motherwell

Balogun has been in and out of the starting lineup since the start of 2022 due to injury issues but made his comeback in a 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League playoff last Thursday.

Despite Rangers' defensive woes in recent weeks, Balogun has done an excellent job when he is on the pitch with the Light Blues not conceding in 255 minutes spread across five matches, against Stirling Albion, Celtic, Hearts, Hibernian and Borussia Dortmund.

Van Bronckhorst  has revealed that Lundstram got the nod over Balogun because the Englishman, who is predominantly a midfielder, is more versatile coupled with the fact that the Nigeria national teamer recently recovered from injury.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, the Dutch football tactician stated : "Well Filip was not available today. Leon you know just came back from injury so we took quite a risk to put him in the game on Thursday. He wasn't able to start today.

"I think John did really well, in the first half you could see with his passing, defensively he's also strong, we could also put him in midfield and build up a three so I think that really worked well today but in the end you look to the players you have available and try to get the best possible game plan ."

Balogun has been involved in 23 all-competition appearances for Rangers so far in 2021-2022 including 21 starts.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : rangers.co.uk