Glasgow Rangers had to settle for a draw in Greece on Thursday evening in their Europa League clash with Olympiacos, relying on Cyriel Dessers to score the equaliser during the second half.
Philippe Clement’s men sit in tenth position in the table, although they still have to play Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in their remaining four fixtures.
At this moment, Europe is considered an afterthought, especially given how poorly the Ibrox side has performed domestically.
Dessers was back on the scoresheet for the second time in five days after his goal against Motherwell in the League Cup semi-final.
Could this be a sign of a resurgence?
Cyriel Dessers’ stats against Olympiacos
Danilo was not registered in the European squad, so Dessers was chosen to start against the Greek side.
In true Dessers fashion, he missed two big chances before finally finding the back of the net. The first chance he was through on goal with only the keeper to beat, but fluffed his lines, while the second saw him fire a shot straight at Konstantinos Tzolakis after a cutback from Vaclav Cerny.
He did manage four shots in total during the clash, looking a lot livelier than he had been in recent weeks, while also winning four of his seven aerial duels and being fouled twice.
Cyriel Dessers’s stats vs Olympiacos |
|
---|---|
Goals |
1 |
Touches |
36 |
Big chances missed |
2 |
Possession lost |
17 |
Aerial duels (won) |
7 (4) |
Total shots |
4 |
Hamza Igamane replaced him with five minutes to go, giving the youngster some precious minutes.
A few other players stood out, none more so than Cerny, who shone on the right flank for the Light Blues.
Vaclav Cerny’s game in numbers vs Olympiacos
A few weeks ago, Cerny was being targeted by a section of the Ibrox support after a few poor displays, which included him missing an open goal in the tie against Lyon.
A month later, the Czech winger has netted five goals and grabbed three assists in his last six matches, showcasing incredible resilience.
Against the Greek side, Cerny not only grabbed the assist for Dessers goal, but he also made five key passes, created two big chances and succeeded with five dribbles from an impressive eight attempts down the right wing.
He looked a menace throughout and if he can maintain this sort of form in the coming weeks, the Gers might just get back to their best domestically.
The winger did lose possession 14 times, but this was the only downside to a display which will further bolster his confidence, no doubt about that.
With a clash against Hearts coming up on Sunday, Clement simply has to keep Cerny in the starting XI, as securing all three points could give the manager some breathing space ahead of the international break next week.
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A draw against the Europa Conference League winners isn’t a bad result by any stretch of the imagination, but the Light Blues will need to take points off either Spurs or Man United to have a chance of making the knockout stages.