Africa Cup of Nations:Leon Balogun races against clock to be match fit

Rangers star Leon Balogun is facing a race against the clock to be match fit for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

The central defender has not featured for the Scottish champions since he was substituted in the closing minutes of the 3-1 loss to Hibernian in the Premier Sports Cup on November 21.

Apart from not helping Rangers in two Europa League fixtures, he has not been available for selection in six consecutive league matches, including Saturday’s win versus Dundee United.

Rangers have not specified the nature of Balogun's injury and his estimated downtime.

Speaking at the post-match press conference after the win vs United, manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst revealed that Balogun is expected to resume training in the coming days following his trip to Germany.

The Light Blues players have been given two days off and will officially return to training on Tuesday ahead of their Boxing Day clash against St Mirren.

Van Bronckhorst said : "Leon went to Germany a couple of days (ago) so he's back now so hopefully this week he will start training again".

Rangers have three more fixtures against St Mirren, Aberdeen and Celtic before releasing their Nigerian players to the Nigerian Federation for the Africa Cup of Nations.