Rangers fire warning to Cyriel Dessers after Hamza Igamane brilliance as key decision explained

Igamane was given the nod ahead of Dessers for the Europa League tie and Clement was rewarded with the summer signing putting in an impressive performance.

Dessers’ case was not helped by a shocking miss from six yards at the end of the match and Clement admitted he has a selection headache on his hands for Sunday’s return to league action when the Gers travel to St Johnstone in the Premiership.

Asked on TNT Sports if Dessers will need to up his game with increased competition from Igamane and fellow striker Danilo, Clement responded: “Yeah, for sure. There will be competition between them, and it's about seeing who is in the best shape at one moment.”

Clement hailed Igamane for his performance, continuing on the Morocco Under-23 internationalist: “He came in with an injury, he missed all the preparation, he doesn't have experience at this level. We're working hard on him with all staff, physically to make him stronger. He made really big progression in that way, but also tactically doing the right things for the team.

“That's why I gave him the chance today, because I saw the good things the last couple of weeks, better and better in training, and like I said before the game, then it's my job also to give these chances at this stage, to see what players can bring. He showed what I expected, but you never know with young players, so he can be also caught up in the emotions and with his first chance in that way, but he didn't do it. So that's a big thing, you need characters like that to play for Rangers.”

On the match itself against Nice, Clement was delighted with the display and agreed it was one of their best results of the season. Rangers sit in eighth place in the Europa League on ten points ahead of further matches against Tottenham, Manchester United and Union Saint-Gilloise.

“This is probably the best performance until now this season,” said Clement, “but the season is still young in a way. We talked a lot about that, about the young squad, a lot of new players in, if you see how many new players were on the pitch today, or only two months, three months, some already four months, but it's still a short time, at the club.

“So it starts to gel together better and better, and they become stronger and stronger, and that's what we need to confirm in the next weeks and next months. But I don’t want players to be in satisfaction mode.”