Rangers' next Europa League opponent Steaua Bucharest have been rocked after their Romanian international Mihai Lixandru was ruled out for up to a year with a serious knee injury.

Philippe Clement's side welcome the former European Cup holders to Ibrox later this month for the next game in their Europa League section.

However, Steaua now won't have one of their key players available after the 23-year-old suffered a knee injury in the competition against PAOK.

And the club's owner and president, Gica Becali, revealed the severity of the injury, although he softened the blow by handing him a pay rise.


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He said: "It was a very scary injury Mihai received.

"We have heard it might take six months to recover, but in reality he will be out for up to a year we believe because it takes a long time to return to full match fitness.

"I talked to him after the injury and I encouraged him. The first thing I did was add an extra £5,000 to his salary.

"It's a small consolation for the terrible injury."