Leon Balogun's season appears to have ended after he fractures cheekbone in Europa League game

GLASGOW Rangers centreback Leon Balogun looks set to be out of action for the rest of the season after he fractured his cheekbone his sides recent 0-2 loss to Spanish side Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-final of the Uefa Europa League.

Balogun, 36, born to a Nigerian father and German mother, has 46 international caps for Nigeria, which included him playing in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This season, he has played 26 games across all competitions for Rangers, featuring in five more games than he managed through the entirety of the last campaign.

During the week, however, he was forced off the pitch after he crashed into his teammate, John Souttar, in the 59th minute at the San Mames Barria in Bilbao. After the game, the veteran defender confirmed he had to leave the pitch following a cheekbone fracture and with five league games left for Rangers to play this campaign, his season is almost certainly over.

Balogun said: “I’ve fractured my cheekbone again, so it’s the fourth time, I think, in my career. I knew it straight away and I knew that I had to come off with it. I asked the doc if there’s any chance for me to stay on but then the pain normally kicks in five, 10 minutes after, and then it’s not really nice.

“We’ll see how severe but probably we’ll need a little small surgery or something and then a few days rest, and then I can go back on with the mask.  About the game, I think you have to be honest and I don’t think we showed enough quality today to severely threaten them."

Losing the Europa League quarter finals means Rangers technically have nothing to play for this season except making sure they finish their Scottish season in second place. They are currently second, 13 points above third place Hibernian but a whooping 15 points behind league leaders, Celtic.