“It’s the right thing to do” – Rangers legend supports Cyriel Dessers despite Celtic penalty debacle

Former Rangers and Scotland striker, Ally Murdoch McCoist, has come to the support of Super Eagles striker, Cyriel Kolawole Dessers, after the Nigerian came under fire, Soccernet.ng reports.

The former Cremonese striker, in the past month at Ibrox, has seen his career go downhill. Despite not being a fan favourite, Dessers produced decent numbers for the Gers in front of goal, but it was only a matter of time before his profilgacy caught up with him.

Hamza Igamane’s return from injury and Danilo’s goal-scoring form saw the 29-year-old quickly fall down the pecking order for Philippe Clemente’s side.

He came on in the League Cup final against Celtic, but couldn’t help his side break the edge. To complicate things, Dessers shied away from the side’s penalty shootout as they lost yet another title to their rivals. In pale comparison, Rangers’ goalkeeper, Jack Butland took a spot kick.

As a result, he came under fire for not stepping up when his team needed him, but McCoist has come to the defence of the Belgium-born Nigerian striker, claiming he didn’t do anything wrong.

“If you have the Rangers number nine jersey on your back you should be stepping up to take a penalty in a shoot-out, but, it’s a bigger man that walks away if he doesn’t feel right for it. I always think your goalscorer should be taking our penalties because it’s an opportunity to score a goal.

I was very surprised to see him not take it but I don’t know how he was feeling physically or mentally so if there’s something wrong it’s a bigger man actually who says ‘no, I’m not physically or mentally prepared for this’. I don’t know if that was the case with Dessers.

Rangers forwards, all forwards in fact, need to score goals but if you have got a problem physically or mentally and you’re not up for it for whatever reason then it’s the correct thing to do,” the 62-year-old said in quotes revealed by the Daily Record.

Things may get complicated for Dessers as he needs playing time to regain his confidence, but he’ll most likely get it elsewhere, as Ligue 1 side, Saint-Etienne have registered interest in him.