Rangers great admits he went spiritual before Dessers hit the post in win against Malmo

Rangers started the league phase of their Europa League campaign with a win, beating Swedish Allsvenskan table toppers Malmo 2-0 at Malmö New Stadium on Thursday evening. 

Manager of the Light Blues, Philippe Clement as expected handed a starting berth to Super Eagles striker Cyriel Dessers, while his international teammate Leon Balogun was an unused substitute for the third game in a row.

Dessers was unfortunate not to open the scoring in the very first minute of the game when he rounded Malmo goalkeeper Johan Dahlin inside the penalty area, only to see his effort come off the post, after intercepting a pass.

Nedim Bajrami was in the right place at the right time to slot home the rebound as Rangers took an early lead.

Rangers' all-time leading goalscorer with 355 goals, Ally McCoist, who was on punditry duties for TNT Sports, admitted that he was praying that Dessers would spot Bajrami before his shot rebounded off the post.

In quotes relayed by BBC Sport, McCoist commented: ”When I saw Cyriel Dessers go through and go around the goalkeeper I was praying for him to keep his head up because he had Bajrami in support.

"He goes for the shot but fortunately it comes back to Bajrami. What a start!"

There were no further goals in the first half as Rangers failed to make their dominance count, with ten of the eleven attempts on goal.

The Scottish Premiership side finally doubled their advantage with fourteen minutes to go courtesy of Ross McCausland's low drive from the edge of the penalty area.

Statistically speaking, Dessers has started the season on fire, having directly participated in ten goals (7 goals, 3 assists) from ten all-competition appearances. 

He has a good goalscoring record in European competitions with 17 goals to his name, comprising 10 in the Conference League, 3 in Champions League qualifying, 2 in the Conference League playoffs and one each in the Europa League and Europa League qualifiers. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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