Rangers will have to do without right back Nathan Patterson for the next two weeks, Steven Gerrard has confirmed.
19-year-old Patterson is just back from Scotland Under 21 duty in Greece, with the young Scots returning three positive Covid test results.
The Rangers youngster has been identified as one of eight close contacts to those who tested positive, and now has to stay away from Ibrox for the next fortnight as a result.
The Scottish FA have been slammed this week for their lack of communication with affected clubs following the tests, with Aberdeen being denied Lewis Ferguson and Connor MacLennan for this afternoon’s Scottish Premiership clash against the Gers.
That meant it was a depleted Dons squad that made the trip to Glasgow, and that told on the pitch with the hosts running out convincing 4-0 winners.
Celtic boss Neil Lennon branded the results ‘a shambles’ after David Turnbull was ruled out of their 2-2 draw against HIbs yesterday.
Gerrard admitted he has sympathy with his counterparts at other clubs.
He said: "We've had some challenges ourselves this week, Steven Davis dropped out of the internationals due to personal reasons and we only really had Steven yesterday. He wasn't available to start.
"Young Nathan Patterson is one of those players as well who we won't see for two weeks.
"You've got to feel for all the managers at the moment, you get challenges that fall unexpectedly, you've just got to deal with it and get on with it.
"But, of course, from Aberdeen's personnel, we were aware that had changed."
