Connor Barron probably wanted the Ibrox ground to swallow him up on Thursday night.
His heart must have sank watching Belgian baller Malik Fofana pounce on his slack pass – before Alexandre Lacazette made him pay the ultimate price. It was Barron’s glaring error that led to Lyon’s second goal in their 4-1 Europa League rout over Rangers.
And in that moment, Cyriel Dessers would have known exactly how he felt. The big striker has been there himself. Remember, a year ago Dessers was being jeered off the Ibrox pitch by his own fans for missing chances up front. But credit to the Nigerian. Instead of going into his shell and disappearing, Gers number nine puffed his chest out and fought his way back.
So much so, he’s now their top scorer and first-choice centre-forward. Dessers believes Barron can do likewise, in terms of recovering from his faux pas against the French. The 29-year-old says games like that will benefit the young Scot in the long-term. Because while Barron might get away with mis-placed passes against SPFL opposition, the likes of Fofana and Lacazette were brutal in their punishment. Rangers return to league duty against St Johnstone, where both players will be in the firing line again.
But Dessers said: “Was that a big learning curve for Connor? For sure. Look, he’s been amazing until now. But this is also part of being a football player.
“Sometimes you miss a chance or misplace a pass like he did and the other team scores out of it. It’s also about the quality and the difference at this level. If he did that on the weekend, maybe it wouldn’t be killed off.
“But in Europe, they immediately kill it off. That’s part of football. When you have the money Lyon have and you can buy players at that level, it’s normal. The sparks they had on Thursday night, those flashes of quality – they can be defining moments which decide games. We’ll support Connor if he needs it. But I expect him to be fine. He’s a good guy, with a great mentality and he just needs to keep going. It was a tough night for us on Thursday and hard to take.”
Dessers was part of a Rangers side under Philippe Clement who beat Real Betis in Spain last term. They also went toe-to-toe with Portuguese cracks Benfica before being edged out of the Europa League knock-out phase. So why couldn’t they reproduce that type of performance against Lyon. Worryingly, the big striker felt they lacked a bit of self-belief on Thursday night. But he also knows it’s a new-look Rangers side trying to find their way again in Europe. And he’s praying that a Betis-type victory somewhere along the line can give Clement’s players confidence to progress in the competition.
Dessers said: “When I think of the games against Benfica last season, we had a little more belief. In the first half against Lyon, we believed.
“But going down 3-1 just before half-time was a big blow. And in the second, I think we put our heads down a little bit. Obviously, we kept fighting, we kept running. We tried to keep going.
“But in terms of real belief to equalise or win the game? I think we missed that. Remember, against Benfica we were further into the season. For some of our guys, Thursday night was their first time playing a game at this level. They will learn from it and so will we as a team. We’ll take the good and bad things out of it and hopefully take it into the next Europa League games – because we’ll need to.
“We’re still developing as a team. That’s not just in Europe but also in the league. We know we’re not there yet and there’s still a lot of room to grow. If we keep doing that, we’ll only get better. Then, maybe we’ll need a win against a team like Betis for example if we want to really progress in Europe.”
Dessers is currently being asked to return to the well every few days for Rangers in different competitions. With Brazilian front-man Danilo still injured and young Moroccan Hamza Igamane still settling into the club – the onus has been put on him to lead the line. It’s a big burden but one Dessers is happy to take on his shoulders. He’s already bagged seven goals in 12 games this season and will look to add to that tally when St Johnstone – under their new gaffer Simo Valakari – turn up in Govan tonight.
Dessers said: “I’m feeling good. For the first time in a few years, I had a full pre-season and I think that’s showed up to now. I’ve got some goals and assists already and I’ve had a decent start to the season. It hasn’t been perfect but you can see we’re growing as a team. Games against the likes of Lyon will help us massively on our journey. It’s a learning process for all of us and we have to keep going.”