Nicolas Raskin has confirmed that he will not feature for Belgium's Under-21s during the international break due to injury.

The midfielder was absent from the Rangers squad at the weekend as they defeated Motherwell 4-2 at Fir Park.

Raskin picked up a quad injury in the Scottish Cup against Raith Rovers and has not recovered, and it remains to be seen how long he will be on the sidelines.

On Instagram, the midfielder wrote: "Unfortunately I will not be playing for Belgium U-21 in the upcoming two matches due to a small injury. I'll be back soon!"

The Belgian has made an impressive start to life at Ibrox following his move from Standard Liege during the January transfer window.

Michael Beale also updated on his player, adding: "Nico has a slight issue, he missed training. Other than that, Malik has had another week Souts has had another week.

"We’ll have to leave a couple out. With Nico we’ll see how he is [on Friday].

"He had a bit of an issue with his quad after the game the other day, but we don’t think it is anything major."

Meanwhile, Beale will continue the quest for improvement at Rangers during the international break.

The Light Blues won 4-2 against Motherwell at Fir Park on Saturday to add further sheen to the Gers manager’s impressive record since he took over from Giovanni van Bronckhorst in November.

Goals from James Tavernier, Fashion Sakala, Todd Cantwell and Malik Tillman secured the points, with Kevin van Veen and Bevis Mugabi replying for the home side who had Callum Slattery sent off in the 76th minute.

Beale has lost only one game – the Viaplay Cup final to Celtic – in 19 matches in the Ibrox hotseat, although there remains a nine-point gap behind the Hoops at the top of the cinch Premiership.

Rangers still have a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic at the end of next month and while domestic fixtures take a break, the former QPR boss will work towards a strong end to the season and beyond.

He said: “We’ve got a few going away on international duty and we’ll let the players have a few days with their families.

“Then we’ll be back training because we’re working on one or two new things – you saw at the end of the game we’re trying something different at the back to get more players up the pitch.

“We’ll continue to work because we have nine league games and a very important cup game when we get back.

“That will be our focus but it gives me time to sit down with one or two and give them a bit of feedback.”