Cyriel Dessers: The best is yet to come from Rangers

Cyriel Dessers insisted “the best is yet to come” from Rangers ahead of Thursday’s Europa League tie against Lyon at Ibrox.

The Light Blues began their European campaign last week with a 2-0 win over Malmo in Sweden and although the 1-0 William Hill Premiership home victory over Hibernian on Sunday was less convincing, it continued the Gers’ good response to the damaging drubbing by Celtic at the start of last month.

The 1-0 win over the Hibees was the fourth victory in a row since the 3-0 defeat at Parkhead and also a fourth clean sheet for Philippe Clement’s side as they moved back to five points behind the Hoops and Aberdeen at the top of the table.

Striker Dessers, 29, spoke optimistically about the future, saying: “I think we’re on a good way. We’re growing, you can see that.

“We got a few new players in and we’re mixing it all together. But obviously, last Thursday was a beautiful night for us as a team.

“You’ve seen in the second half against a good team, you have to really stick together.

“It’s not like a team night out – but it was a team-building activity.

“Stick together, work together, fight together. You see how everybody fought for the team.

“And that makes me really happy, I’m really proud. That gives me confidence for the future as well.

“I think we had some really good performances before the Celtic game. Obviously, you want that one game to go different but also, you cannot let one result distract you.

“Like I said, we are growing. The best is yet to come for us. And I think everybody can see that.

“We just have to stay focused on our own game and keep growing.”

French side Lyon beat Olympiacos 2-0 in their opening Europa League game last Thursday and there are other tough ties promised further down the line for the Ibrox side, including Tottenham at home and Manchester United away.

Dessers looked back to Sweden and even further back to last season’s Europa League win over Real Betis and draw against Benfica for further inspiration.

The Nigeria international said: “I’ve seen some of their highlights. They had some exciting games in the last weeks, so I think it’s going to be an open game again.

“It’s a big team. If you just look at the players there, they have some big names, like Alexandre Lacazette and Nemanja Matic.

“These are big names, but I think as a team, we showed last season against Betis and Benfica that we can have very good performances against very good teams.

“Those were very important points. Malmo is not easy. Malmo’s a good team. You can see it as well in the league where they’re leading.

“So this is a very good start, but still a lot of work to do, especially if you look at our opponents.”