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Glasgow Rangers of Scotland defender, Leon Aderemi Balogun is back in action with his club, following his recovery from an injury that ruled him out of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, megasportsarena.com reports.
He had been cast in doubt for the continental soccer showpiece much earlier, following a knock he copped in October and he never fully recover from it despite several attempts and efforts at his club’s base and during a brief spell in the Super Eagles’ camp.
However, while his national team colleagues will be eying a quarter-final ticket at AFCON 2021 when they battle Tunisia on Sunday in Garoua, Balogun was back in action two days earlier, and it was exactly two months after he suffered a back injury in the closing minutes of The Gers’ semi-final clash with Hibernian in the Premier Sports Cup.
It was a different story on Friday night, though, as Balogun played his first game for Rangers under their new coach, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and he helped the Scottish champions to a 4-0 win over Stirling Albion.
His efforts helped his side advance to the next round of the Scottish Cup and brought an end to a streak of 15 consecutive matches in all competitions for former Super Eagles invitee, Calvin Bassey, who had been deputising for Balogun at center back.
The Light Blues secured passage to the last sixteen of the Scottish Cup courtesy of goals from Alex Lowry, James Tavernier, Cedric Itten and Fashion Jr, but the biggest glee for Nigerian fans would be learning about an end to the injury suffered by Balogun and forced him to withdraw from the Eagles squad to AFCON 2021.
Balogun is now the third player originally named on Nigeria’s roster for Cameroon 2021 that has been certified fit to play, after Victor Osimhen and Abdullahi Shehu earlier returned to action with their clubs, after withdrawing from Nigeria’s squad due to fitness concerns.
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