Leon Balogun was at the centre of some controversy surrounding Cyriel Dessers heading into Rangers’ Champions League clash with Dynamo Kiev.
Not because the Nigerian international defender doubts his countryman at Ibrox. Far from it.
But because one journalist rather cheekily asked Leon Balogun if Cyriel Dessers was the man to lead the Rangers frontline.
Quick as a flash, Rangers manager Philippe Clement interrupted the press conference to argue “I think that’s a really strange question to be honest.”
Balogun answered: “I mean what do you expect me to say? What do you mean? How confident am I that he’ll start scoring?
“He’s scored quite an amount of goals for us already and this season only started for us last weekend so I don’t really know what you’re getting at.
“I looked at him last season and I think he scored a significant amount of goals, so yeah, I am.”
Now, the Rangers centre-back has had the last laugh on X after Cyriel’s heroics in Poland.
Dessers the Champions League hero
As Rangers headed into the first leg of their Champions League clash with Dynamo Kiev, it’s fair to say some fans feared the worst.
Rangers are a club and squad in transition with still plenty of work to be done on the team before the end of the summer transfer window.
But despite that the Gers put in a spirited performance against the Ukrainians and will take a 1-1 draw back to Glasgow, in no small part down to Cyriel Dessers.
The Rangers forward burst a gut to get back up and into the box after a collision in injury time as his teammates swept towards the Dynamo goal.
Eventually finding himself on the end of a tidy Vaclav Cerny cross in the opposition six-yard box, Dessers scored with virtually the final kick of the ball to cancel out Andriy Yarmolenko’s opener.
Cue delirium in the stands in Poland and in every Rangers household in Scotland.
But the moment also allowed Cyriel Dessers to – once again – silence the doubters and Leon Balogun has basked in some post match satisfaction.
Balogun lauds Gers teammate
Taking to social media platform X, Leon Balogun has shared an image of himself and Cyriel Dessers from the draw with Dynamo Kiev.
Accompanying the post with the caption ‘right on time, CD9’, the comment is a clear show of support for the under fire hitman and a tongue-in-cheek response to the question in the press conference.
Leon Balogun also put in a solid display in Poland but alongside the rest of the Rangers defence was wasteful in possession when building out from the back.
Nonetheless, Rangers held firm at 1-0 down before Cyriel Dessers popped up and took the plaudits come the final whistle.
Rangers will welcome Dynamo Kiev to Hampden next Tuesday (13/08) with the winners to progress to the Champions League Playoff.
