Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha believes teenage defender Ross McCrorie will become a legend for club and country after seeing him make his debut in the League Cup win over Partick Thistle.

McCrorie made his first appearance for the first team as a substitute for Bruno Alves as Rangers earned a 3-1 extra-time victory over Thistle and booked a place in the semi-finals of the competition.

Alves suffered a calf injury in the game, which could rule him out of the Premiership clash with Celtic on Saturday. Caixinha said he would have no hesitation in naming McCrorie in his place and was fulsome in his praise for the young stopper.

"Ross McCrorie is going to be one of the best centre-halves in history, not just for this club but for this country," he said.

"You just need to see what he did. He was brilliant.

"It's not about age or names. It's about getting the chance to prove it.

"I have no concerns about him. I never had and never will have. If he needs to play on Saturday, he will play."

Caixinha also saw Declan John limp off with a thigh strain ahead of the derby but was happy to see his side come through a tough tie. Carlos Pena opened the scoring on his first start for the club before Kris Doolan's equaliser forced extra time.

Daniel Candeias and Eduardo Herrera scored the goals that put Rangers in Thursday's draw but Caixinha said it could have been all over over much earlier.

"We deserved to be winners in 90 minutes but we missed a lot of chances," he said.

"In extra-time we played the way we want to play

"People talk about out fitness but my players ran and ran and ran and ran like the rabbits with the batteries

"Everybody saw the difference in extra-time."

Thistle boss Alan Archibald said his side could have nicked the win if regulation time had gone on just a little bit longer.

"Disappointment is the over-riding emotion," he said. "I'm a bit bemused, I didn't see that coming at the start of extra-time.

"I thought we finished the game really strongly. Probably the worst thing that could have happened was the final whistle because I felt we were strong and Rangers were sitting off us. I thought we deserved our goal at the time."