“I was the scapegoat” – Cyriel Dessers reflects on first season in Rangers colours

Super Eagles and Rangers striker, Cyriel Kolawole Dessers, has revealed that he felt scapegoated in his first season with Rangers, Soccernet.ng reports.

The 29-year-old forward enjoyed a decent campaign under Philippe Clement, scoring 22 goals and providing eight assists in all competitions for the Gers.

However, the season ended in a bitter aftertaste for the Glasgow-based club, as they surrendered the League title and League Cup to their rivals, Celtic.

For a large part of the season, Dessers was criticized for not being clinical enough in front of goal, and the Nigerian has reacted to some of the things he was labelled with.

“I feel in some moments I was the scapegoat. I only came in in the summer, but suddenly it felt like everything that happened inside the club or on the pitch was only my fault. These are hard things because I was just moving to a country, trying to adapt to a new club, a new league. I was still putting up my Ikea furniture or working out the settings on my television and people were already trying to write me out of the club, saying, you’re the worst player who ever played for Rangers and all these things,” the former Feyenoord man said in quotes revealed by The Scottish Sun.

The Super Eagles forward was left hurt after the Rangers fans turned on him. For him, he functions better when he’s showered with love during poor form.

“If it’s your fans, it hurts you. You’re a human being. Strikers, they’re like a special kind of personality. They’re at their best with love. Not one player in the world is better when you whistle him off the pitch. Once you’re getting these little bits of love, you start to grow as a player and you become better,” he added.

After an eventful season with Rangers, Dessers believes next season will be better, with this year serving as a learning curve for him.

“I’m not worrying about that because I know next season when you have a little bit more luck then all these balls will go in and then your numbers will be even better. The microscope is a lot on these missed chances and me as a person. I’m a person in life who likes to look at what I have and be happy with that instead of focusing on the things I don’t have. That can be a good lesson, not only for football fans but for everybody in life,” the former Cremonse striker concluded.

Despite Dessers’ impressive goal contribution at Ibrox this season, he was not called up for Nigeria’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Benin Republic.