[LAF]

Rangers quartet miss Croatia game

Rangers quartet Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Allan McGregor and Christian Dailly have withdrawn from the Scotland squad to play Croatia on Wednesday.

Ferguson has an ankle injury, McCulloch has a thigh problem, Dailly is out with a broken toe, while goalkeeper McGregor's injury is unknown.

Celtic's Barry Robson and Derby County's Stephen Pearson have also pulled out of the friendly at Hampden.

Birmingham striker James McFadden is injured, Cardiff's Gavin Rae comes in.

Celtic's Stephen McManus will captain the side in Ferguson's absence.

The game will be Scotland manager George Burley's first in charge.

Burley had come under pressure to rest several Old Firm players ahead of next week's league clash at Ibrox.

Rangers captain Ferguson has been struggling with an ankle injury, after deciding to delay an operation.

Ferguson sat out last week's Scottish Cup draw with Partick Thistle, but did feature in the league win over Hibs.

Dailly broke a toe during the Hibs game at Ibrox and the Rangers website said all three would receive treatment and were expected to be fit for the Old Firm game.

Rangers striker Kris Boyd is the only Ibrox player who is still in the Scotland squad.

Five Celtic players - Gary Caldwell, Stephen McManus, Scott Brown, Paul Hartley and Barry Robson - are included and all five played in Sunday's victory over Gretna.

McFadden sat out Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Reading in the Premier League and is also discounted for matches against Manchester City and Wigan.

Manager Alex McLeish said: "James had a small tear in his knee.

"He had keyhole surgery and we'll miss him for two more matches. It happened after the Newcastle match."

Croatia qualified for the Euro 2008 finals as group winners ahead of Russia and England.

They will face Austria, Poland and Germany in Group B of the finals in Austria and Switzerland in June.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that Scotland will host Northern Ireland in a friendly at Hampden on 20 August and the Czech Republic in Prague on 30 May.

The Scots will also face the Czech side at Hampden in 2010.

BBC SPORT | Football | Internationals | Rangers quartet miss Croatia game

I expect some Celtic players to pull out aswell, what with the Old Firm coming up.