Rangers fans reckon Rangers captain James Tavernier took a swipe at Cyriel Dessers in the wake of defeat to Celtic.
It was another painful afternoon at Hampden for the captain as he watched his opposite number Callum McGregor continue his unbeaten record in finals at the national stadium to lift the Premier Sports Cup. The Light Blues pushed their rivals all the way with Kasper Schmeichel proving to be the hero in Mount Florida as he denied Rangers left-back Ridvan Yilmaz from 12 yards to claim the silverware.
Question marks were raised over Dessers failing to step up to take a spot-kick after coming off the bench in extra-time – with goalkeeper Jack Butland also among the five penalty takers for the defeated finalists. After the game, skipper Tavernier leapt to the defence of Yilmaz and his teammates who rolled the dice in the shoot-out.
He said: “It’s never nice to lose a game on penalties, but I’m proud of the lads who stepped up and were man enough to take a penalty. It just didn’t go our way.”
And the Ibrox diehards reckon that the comment was aimed at the Rangers No. 9, with one posting to X: “He has thrown a teammate under the bus, Tav is heavily implying Dessers was probably asked to take it, then said no. And I have a serious gripe with that.”
Another added: “Tav showing his displeasure at Dessers not taking a pen. That’s a dig.” Another Gers supporter added: “He knows that when it came to the penalty call, none of the expected players had the balls. He took first as captain. Dessers will never be a Rangers number 9.”
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