Former Rangers striker Gordon Dalziel was utterly gobsmacked when Vaclav Cerny didn’t start for Rangers against Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday night.
The Czech Republic international was brought to Govan on loan from Wolfsburg until the end of the season and has so far impressed in Rangers colours.
He made his debut against Hearts but proved his worth when providing an assist for Cyriel Dessers in the Dynamo Kyiv first-leg before scoring a fine winner versus Motherwell, with Rangers fans raving about Cerny later that night.
Cerny is off to a flier and was expected to start against Kyiv at Hampden but Clement opted to name him on the bench which didn’t go down well amongst the fans.
Clement then explained after the game that the medical staff at Rangers advised Cerny shouldn’t start because he’d be playing too many minutes too soon.
But that hasn’t gone down well with Dalziel who expressed his disbelief on the most recent Open Goal podcast.
Dalziel astonished by Cerny call
Gordon Dalziel shared with the panel: “See the Cerny one, I was baffled why he didn’t start. And it’s easy for us to say after the game, ‘he should have started’, but the boy was dynamite against Motherwell.
“I really like the look of him. But here’s the difference. What is the difference, he came on against Motherwell and he played 40 minutes.
“So you add his time together for those two games, if he starts him at the beginning compared to bringing him on at 60 minutes, it’s a difference of about 10/15 minutes!”
James McFadden then interjected and pointed out: “And it’s longer if it goes to extra-time.”
Dalziel then responded with bafflement: “Exactly! That blows my brains out, blows my brains out!”
Clement’s full Cerny explanation
The Rangers manager spoke to BBC Scotland prior to the Dynamo Kyiv defeat to iron out why Cerny was not allowed to start on medical advice.
He said: “I would’ve loved to have started with Vaclav Cerny today, but the medical staff, the performance staff, said it’s too big of risk to start the game with him. They think he will have played too many minutes.
“We also know first half intensity is always bigger than in the second half, so it was more wise to let him come in during the game where there’s maybe a little more space and the rhythm drops with the opponent.
“But those are choices to make for the moment that I don’t like to make, but it is what it is.”
