Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers is hoping his last-gasp goal against Dynamo Kyiv, in Poland, could turn the tie in their favour as they look to qualify for this season’s Champions League main draw.
The Glasgow side were trailing 1-0 after Andriy Yarmolenko opened the scoring in the 37th minute but Dessers equalised four minutes into injury time, with the last kick of the game.
“There has been a lot of work and moments like this can turn this around and switch things and hopefully things start falling our way now,” he told Rangers TV.
You saw after the whistle how they went in – they were not happy.
“This goal is a very good statement and this could change the momentum, not only in this tie but hopefully for us also for the coming weeks.
“Everyone could see Dynamo is a very good team, technically, so we had to work hard to keep the spaces closed and I’m happy to score at the end and take a good result home. We conceded a few times last season but bounced back and that says a lot about our mentality, even against a good team.”
The late goal at the Lublin Arena, the venue due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, understandably sent the travelling Rangers fans wild and Dessers was glad he could send them home happy.
“We spoke in the hotel before the game how crazy it is the fans are everywhere – Birmingham, Berlin, Edinburgh or wherever. And it’s nice we could give them something back at the end to celebrate.”
It’s now all to play for when the two sides meet again at Hampden Park on Tuesday, 13 August. The winner of the tie will face RB Salzburg or FC Twente for a place in the 2024-25 Champions League, with the Austrians taking a 2-1 lead to the Netherlands.
Rangers will also hope to take that momentum into the weekend when they face Motherwell, at Hampden Park, looking for their first league win of the season, after being held to a goalless draw with Hearts on Saturday.
