Major blow for Rangers as Barry loses pivotal man v Bilbao | OneFootball

Rangers’ manager Barry Ferguson is in quite a dilemma, folks. Just when he thought he’d caught a break, the news emerged that John Souttar won’t be playing in the Europa League quarter-final against Athletic Bilbao. That’s right, Souttar is suspended! And let’s not kid ourselves, this isn’t just any random player missing a game; it’s a huge setback for the team (Jack, 2025). So what implications does this have for Ferguson and his squad?

The proverbial elephant in the room must be acknowledged: Rangers have been in a rut recently. They are suffering through their most awful home skid ever. Without a doubt, that’s bad enough, but now they face a very important European match without one of their most important defenders. Can it get any worse? You can just imagine Ferguson, brow furrowed, pondering the question of how he can patch together his defense to make it work against a team as good as Bilbao (Custom). Who will step up? Will it be someone who can actually keep pace with Bilbao’s frenetic attack? Or will it simply be another lamb on the altar?

Not to say Ferguson doesn’t have a few options at his disposal. But it’s not so straightforward to swap in someone for Souttar. We saw the effect of his absence in Geneva, where Rangers conceded twice to a decent but limited Servette side—they’d kept a clean sheet in the first leg with Souttar but couldn’t limit the damage in his absence. Servette’s goals both came from players finding plenty of room at the back post to finish crosses (Custom). So Ferguson can’t just plug a hole here; he needs to find a way around the whole thing while his main man is out and the rest of his usual defense is out of form.

We shouldn’t overlook the impact on the rest of the squad because of Souttar’s absence. Aside from him, four players are walking on very thin ice right now; another yellow card in any of the remaining matches leading up to the final, if they get there at all, would see them miss an appearance on that stage. It’s not too “Lord of the Flies” to suggest that what Rangers have going on here is a very high-stakes game of “dodgeball” (Jack, 2025). One can only hope that Rangers, as a collective, have a tighter hold on their nerve than they did against Leverkusen in the last round.

In the end, losing John Souttar isn’t just about one less body on the field. His absence fundamentally changes this team, primarily because he’s not just a good defender but also a very effective leader (Jack, 2025). Rangers have a few other options in the center of their defense, but Barry Ferguson and his staff will be doing some serious head-scratching to figure out how to make those options work in the short term.