Rangers striker Danilo will undergo an operation after sustaining a broken cheekbone when scoring the opener in the 2-0 win over St Johnstone.
The Brazilian headed the Light Blues ahead after 16 minutes of the cinch Premiership match at McDiarmid Park but had to be immediately substituted along with Saints captain Liam Gordon after both men clashed heads in the aerial duel.
Substitute Rabbi Matondo added a second for the visitors in the 79th minute to seal the three points.
Afterwards Michael Beale confirmed the bad news ahead of the Europa League opener against Real Betis at Ibrox on Thursday night.
The Gers boss, pleased with the much-needed win after defeats to Celtic and PSV Eindhoven before the international break, said: “Danilo has fractured his cheekbone so we have to see how long he is out.
“He is away (to hospital) and hopefully he will be operated on this evening.
“I just asked the doctor and he gave me the news which is not great news to receive but you could see from the swelling right away that it was a bad one.
“It is a really disappointing moment for the team.
“Danilo had had a couple of things going on, he took a few weeks to get fit, then he scores.
“After the injury the game got a bit stuffy and in the second half we made more chances than we took.
“The game was scrappy at times, we still have work to do but it was a 2-0 win and it was comfortable.”
The beleaguered Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is claiming that it has now paid in full balances due to the Women’s World Cup team.
In a statement Friday, the JFF that has been involved in yet another dispute with the senior women’s team, also said they will also start processing payments to all players who played in the qualifying rounds but were not in the final World Cup squad.
“We are always grateful for the contribution made by all our players and are happy that we have been able to settle these outstanding amounts,” the JFF said.
This development seemingly brings about an end at least one of several concerns expressed by the players, who recently declined invitations to represent the country in the ongoing qualification match for the Gold Cup. As a result, a brand new squad was selected and is being coached by interim head coach Xavier Gilbert.
That team lost 2-1 to Panama on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, the JFF released a statement seeking to clarify several issues regarding this latest dispute wherein the players declined to accept invitations for the Gold Cup qualifiers citing the unpaid monies and the uncertainty surrounding the coaching situation after the JFF decided not to renew the contract of Lorne Donaldson, who had led the team to a historic round of 16 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup earlier this year.
In that statement the JFF said the only money that was owed to the Reggae Girls was the 20 per cent of the JFF prize money from the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
“The reason for this amount being outstanding, is that although the contract stated that an amount of 20 per cent is to be paid to the players (including those playing in the qualification matches), it did not specify how the amount is to be distributed amongst the players,” the federation said.
“JFF reached out to the players to ask them how the 20 per cent should be divided between them, and just last week we suggested a formula, in order to expedite the process. We did not receive a response and so advised that we would start processing along the lines of the formula we had put forward. This was done.”
Since then, Jamaica’s sports minister Olivia Grange, said she was seeking to have the matter settled between the two parties. It is unclear what impact her intervention had on the development announced on Friday.
Meantime, the JFF said it is now shifting its focus to the remaining qualifier between Jamaica and Guatemala on Sunday.
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