But the defender eventually collided with Danilo in a nasty clash of heads that saw both players forced to be substituted due to injury during the match.
Saw Rangers fans fear the worst as Danilo lay on the deck in Perth and Michael Beale confirmed the player had undergone surgery on a broken cheekbone. Welcome to Scotland!
“At that point, with both players injured, the game stopped for a long time,” Michael Beale said.
“So obviously they lost one to concussion and he broke Danilo’s cheekbone.
“So we’ll have to see how long he’s out, but he’s got a fracture in his face and he’ll be out and hopefully get surgery. “It’s really a disappointing moment for this team. With Danilo, he has had some moments and he has two weeks to get back into form and score goals.
“It was a very important moment for Danilo being injured at that time.
When asked about the potential time frame for Danilo to recover from his injury, Michael Beale said:“That’s right, I just asked the doctor over there, he gave me some news, obviously this is not good news to receive.
“In terms of timing, we’ll have to see what actually has to be done, but you can see right away that it’s very bad.”
A £6m summer signing from Feyenoord, there has been excitement around Danilo after he was announced early at St Johnstone. And Michael Beale’s faith in the striker was rewarded with a header in the 15th minute, although disaster immediately struck.
The header showed Danilo’s instinctive attacking instincts and hopefully the striker will soon return to the squad and quickly overcome his injury.
The striker himself took to Instagram after the match to send an encouraging message to fans as he looks forward to recovering from the incident.
Rabbi Matondo would add a second goal for Rangers in the second half of the clash as the club claimed a 2-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
