Cyriel Dessers urges Rangers to take positives from Benfica loss and bounce back

Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers believes they can take positives from their European display and bounce back against Dundee.

The Ibrox suffered a 1-0 home defeat against Benfica on Thursday to go out of the Europa League at the last-16 stage.

Celtic reclaimed top spot in the Premiership with a 3-1 win over St Johnstone on Saturday.

Rangers now continue their title push with a trip to Dens Park on Sunday where they look to go back top of the table.

Nigeria international Dessers said: “I don’t expect an easy game but there are not a lot of easy games in Scotland.

“It’s clear we have to bounce back and we have a team that has experience with this, who can handle this.

“If we take positives out of the game and go again, I think we will bounce back.

“There’s a lot to play for for us this season. We have to keep going and starting on Sunday so we can go into the international break with a good feeling.”

Dessers came close with a deflected effort on Thursday but Rangers struggled to work the visiting goalkeeper, who spilled an early effort from Tom Lawrence.

However, Dessers was proud of the way they competed with the Portuguese champions in a tight encounter, having drawn 2-2 in Lisbon.

And he will take plenty of encouragement from their showing as they push for a domestic treble.

“We can be really proud of this performance against a really big team in Europe,” the centre-forward said.

“This is normally a team that plays knockout phase in the Champions League. They have world champions in their team.

“If you see what we showed on Thursday night, obviously it hurts but it has to give us confidence as well and it has to be something we can build on for the last two-and-a-half months of the season.

“It has to give us confidence because if we can show that against one of the best teams in Europe, on that stage, if we can bring that energy, that level, that power into the league games and the cup games, then I think we can have a really beautiful ending to the season.”