Why Thelo Aasgaard was missing from Rangers squad vs St Mirren explained

Why Thelo Aasgaard missed Rangers’ clash with St Mirren explained

Thelo Aasgaard’s absence from Rangers’ starting lineup against St Mirren was down to suspension rather than injury.

The Norwegian midfielder had made an encouraging start to life at Ibrox, scoring against Dundee United and impressing with his energy despite Rangers’ difficult run of results.

Derek McInnes has also praised the 24-year-old’s performances, making his omission from the squad for the League Cup clash somewhat surprising to some supporters.

However, Aasgaard was unavailable because he was still serving a suspension carried over from last season’s competition.

The midfielder was shown a straight red card during Rangers’ Scottish League Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic in November after a challenge on Anthony Ralston.

As a result, the suspension carried into this season’s tournament, preventing McInnes from selecting him against St Mirren.

Rangers instead started with Nico Raskin, Tochi Chukwuani and Vanja Dragojevic in midfield.

The decision did not appear to hurt the Gers early on, with Ryan Naderi opening the scoring before Dragojevic produced a stunning strike to put Rangers 2-0 ahead.