Rangers injury woes continue as Rabbi Matondo faces six weeks on the sidelines with knee injury

Rangers face being without Rabbi Matondo for six weeks after he suffered a knee injury during Sunday’s 1-0 win over Motherwell.

It’s the latest injury setback for Ibrox boss Michael Beale, who will also be without Kieran Dowell, Todd Cantwell (both knee), Tom Lawrence, Nico Raskin (both calf) and Danilo (fractured cheekbone) for Wednesday’s Viaplay Cup quarter-final against Livingston.

Of the injured players, only Dowell has a chance of returning for Saturday’s cinch Premiership clash with Aberdeen at Ibrox.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, first-team coach Neil Banfield said: “Rabbi has sustained a knee injury, I think he is going to be six weeks but we’ve got the squad all prepared for tomorrow

“He’s added onto the injury list, which has come through the games and it’s part of what we’ve got, and we’ll the build the squad for tomorrow and go again against Livingston.

“It’s understandable, you can see it, but I think when you come into these games, this period of games, I think it’s tough for the players mentally.

“They had a big result on Thursday (against Real Betis in the Europa League) and it’s how you get over that and you approach the next game, and I think the games have gone well in the results, but obviously we’ve seen that we got a little bit anxious on Sunday (against Motherwell), not getting the second goal – that does create a little bit of anxiety among the team. We defended well, we won the game, and now we push on the cup game on Wednesday night.”

Banfield also said the coaching team at Ibrox is well aware of growing pressure on Beale and disgruntlement among some sections of the Rangers support at how the team is playing.

“We can’t get away from that. When we all come together, we speak as a group and you analyse and you prepare for what’s coming, in all scenarios, and I think we’ve prepared for this and we deal with it, and I think with the injuries as well, you know that we’ve built a strong squad and it’s time for players to come into the team and hopefully take us into the semi-final.”