While some claimed that Bongani Zungu's Rangers career was over after he broke COVID-19 rules, Steven Gerrard has explained why he is giving the Bafana Bafana international and the others involved another chance.
Zungu and four of his Rangers teammates were caught partying and breaking coronavirus regulations two weeks ago.
As a consequence, the former Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder and the others were "removed" from the squad and made to self-isolate.
With Zungu being the eldest among the group, some Scottish football experts went as far as saying that the 28-year-old would not feature under Gerrard again, but the Liverpool legend has since explained why he played the Bafana Bafana star and Nathan Patterson in his side's UEFA Europa League clash with Royal Antwerp on Thursday night.
"They have been punished internally, spoken (to) and treated internally, and we all want them to learn from that moving forward," Gerrard told BT Sport after the match.
"The sooner you can move on from there, the better."
While Zungu featured for eight minutes of his side's 5-2 victory over the Belgians, Patterson came on at half-time and scored just after the break, and Gerrard confirmed that he is giving the players a second chance.
"As someone who has four children myself, I want to be the one who gives people a second chance," he added.
"As a human, I myself made the same mistakes, so he (Nathan Patterson) learns from it and he has to take a little more punishment that comes his way.
"It's true for the three of them, but it has been a whirlwind week and hopefully (this) aids their development."
