Rangers boss Russell Martin: Cyriel Dessers ‘touch and go’ for Club Brugge clash

Cyriel Dessers is an injury concern for the first leg of Rangers’ Champions League play-off at home to Club Brugge.

The Nigerian forward, who scored 29 goals in all competitions last term, limped off in the second leg of the previous round against Viktoria Plzen last Tuesday with a leg issue and subsequently sat out Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup win over Alloa.

Manager Russell Martin, offering a squad update at his pre-match press conference at Ibrox on Monday, said: “Big Cyriel is probably the only concern. He’ll be touch and go. He’s responded really well to treatment. It was nowhere near as bad as we first feared.

“So if it’s not tomorrow, we expect him to be back for the weekend and next week.”

Martin could pitch Jayden Meghoma straight in for a debut at left-back after it was announced on Sunday evening that the 19-year-old had joined on loan from Brentford.

“I think he’s going to be registered in time for tomorrow’s match,” the manager said. “We hope so anyway, so we’ll have to wait and see.

“But, yeah, that’s the hope, that he can be in the squad. He trained today and yesterday, so we’ll see if he’s ready to go.”

Martin revealed that midfielder Nico Raskin – Rangers’ players of the year last season, who was dropped from the starting line-up after the draw at Motherwell earlier this month – will be back in the squad after sitting out the Alloa game on Saturday.

“The only reason he wasn’t in the squad on Saturday was for a rest, but he’s trained really well. I think he’s going to be a big player for us,” Martin said.

“I said that from the beginning. It’s been a difficult summer for him and all that, but really, the last few weeks, I’ve loved the energy that Nico’s brought.

“He is going to be really important for us. He will play tomorrow night and he’ll be a good player for us.”