Rangers manager Michael Beale has praised the impact of Cyriel Dessers and other players as the Gers progressed to the playoff round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers after a 3-2 aggregate victory over Servette FC on Tuesday.
Dessers was instrumental in the first leg, scoring the second goal in the 2-1 win, his first for the club. He however started the return leg in Geneva on the bench. Servette levelled on aggregate when midfielder Dereck Kutesa scored in the first half. Rangers however equalised via James Tavernier in the second half to take control of the tie.
Dessers came on for Brazilian forward Danilo in the second half and Beale also praised the work ethic of Senegal forward Abdallah Sima.
“Jose Cifuentes and Nicolas Raskin had decent games to be fair you could see how hard they worked,” Beale said on the club website.
“We got Todd [Cantwell] into good areas and you’d like to just be a little bit more precise in the final ball, I thought Cyriel [Dessers] and Sam [Lammers] came on and added to the work ethic of Abdullah [Sima] and Danilo.
“Early in the game when you are 1-0 down you are looking for a response from the players and we certainly had that after half time and in the end, it was a good result and it is one that gets us through.
“I think we will need to improve next week for sure but before that our focus is on recovering and Morton at home in the League Cup.”
???? Everywhere, Anywhere#UCL pic.twitter.com/mCuMShpO9o
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) August 15, 2023
Rangers will now get to face Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in the playoff round on August 22 and 30 for a place in the Champions League group stage.
