Snubbed by Eguavoen, Dessers scores again for Rangers to show Super Eagles coach what he's missing

Rangers forward Cyriel Dessers sent a powerful message to Super Eagles interim coach Austin Eguavoen on Sunday, scoring his tenth goal of the season in a Scottish Premiership match against Hearts.

The 29-year-old's exclusion from Nigeria's squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Republic of Benin and Rwanda raised eyebrows, but the Belgian-born striker responded with goals in three consecutive matches.  

Rangers captain James Tavernier's pinpoint pass found Dessers, who clinically finished the chance in the sixth minute.

Today's goal capped a decent individual display, with Dessers registering three shots on goal before being substituted for Danilo in the 78th minute. 

His teammates failed to find the net afterwards, underscoring Dessers' importance to Rangers' attack.

Having fired blanks in eight games on the bounce, the former NAC Breda hitman has rediscovered his scoring touch, with goals against Motherwell, Olympiakos and Hearts in the space of one week. 

Despite criticism for missing chances, Dessers had scored nine goals in 19 appearances across all competitions this season, prior to today's game. 

The Rangers number 9 has not represented Nigeria since March 2024 and remains stuck on six caps.

Nigeria's squad announcement for the AFCON qualifiers sparked controversy, with Umar Sadiq's recall raising questions. 

Umar has not scored for club and country since March 2024 and his selection over Dessers drew criticism from local media.

The Super will resume their quest to seal qualification to the 2025 AFCON when they take on Gernot Rohr's Cheetahs and Rwanda's Wasps on the 14th and 18th of November respectively.

Ejim Kaycee

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