Rangers left-back Borna Barisic has suffered a blow to his international career after being dropped to the standby list for their games against Latvia and Armenia, according to the Glasgow Times.
The newspaper shared via its website on 31 October that, after Croatia suffered catastrophic losses in their last fixtures against Turkey and Wales which summed up a “disastrous” qualifying stage, changes have been made.
Barisic has been below-par so far this season both for Rangers and Croatia, and it seemed almost a matter of time before a big call was made on his future at one of those levels.
After plenty of abject performances so far this season, it was a question of when rather than if there would be a reconsideration surrounding Barisic’s role in the Croatia squad.
He faced criticism during the last international break after awful showings. In the 2-1 defeat to Wales [15 October], the left-back was torn to shreds.
He was dribbled past three times, won just two of five attempted duels both on the ground and in the air, lost possession eight times and failed to complete a single cross, in a poor display both defensively and going forward. [Sofascore]
The loss to Wales followed a poor display against Turkey [12 October], in which the defender found himself booked after 34 minutes for a bad foul, while losing possession 14 times, winning just three of seven attempted duels, and failing to complete a single one of six attempted crosses.
Clearly, Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic has seen enough and has now taken the step to remove Barisic from his squad and relegate him to a reserve role. It will now be up to the defender to play his way back into contention.