Knee injury sidelines Reggae Boy Roofe

GLASGOW, Scotland (CMC):

Reggae Boy Kemar Roofe is set to miss three crucial games for Scottish Premiership side Rangers through injury, the club announced yesterday.

Striker Roofe, 29, suffered a knock to his knee in Sunday’s 2-1 Scottish Cup semi-final victory over league leaders Celtic that will now see him sidelined at a critical stage of the run-in.

Wales international Aaron Ramsey went off before half-time in that game and the 31-year-old midfielder and Roofe are expected to return for the Europa League semi-final second leg at home to RB Leipzig on May 5.

They also will miss the first leg on April 28 and league games against Motherwell as well as Celtic, who lead defending champions Rangers by six points.

Manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst said: “Aaron had to come off with a hamstring problem. We also had a problem with Kemar after the game. The next day, he felt his knee.

“For him, it is the same – he will be out for some weeks and hopefully also back for me to pick around the Leipzig home game.”

Ramsey has been limited to seven starts amid injury problems since arriving at Ibrox on loan from Juventus in January, but was starting to find form.

Roofe has emerged as Van Bronckhorst’s preferred choice up front ahead of Zambia striker Fashion Sakala in the absence of Colombian topscorer Alfredo Morelos, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season because of injury.

The England-born Jamaica international, who has scored four goals in his past three games, has netted a total of 17 times this season, including one goal for Jamaica in a 2-0 win over Honduras in a World Cup qualifier in October.