Cyriel Dessers insists Rangers can overcome Celtic for the first time this season in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final.
The Nigeria forward broke his Old Firm scoring duck against the Hoops in their fourth cinch Premiership meeting of the season at Parkhead on Saturday, but it was not enough to prevent the Hoops sealing a 2-1 win over their 10-man opponents.
A third victory of the season against Rangers following a draw at Ibrox in April took Brendan Rodgers’ side six points clear of the Light Blues at the top of the cinch Premiership with just two fixture remaining.
Even though the title looks bound for Parkhead again, Dessers is optimistic of a positive end to the season in the cup final at Hampden Park on May 25.
Ahead of the visit of Dundee on Tuesday night, he said: “There is one more game against Celtic to go and a really important one, important for us and our fans and for everybody who supports this club.
“It’s in our minds we want to show our fans we can beat Celtic and win the cup final.
“It has been a crazy season with ups and downs. You can’t say we’re a bad team, we are in two cup finals (Rangers beat Aberdeen to win the Viaplay Cup in December).
“We came back in the league, but unfortunately it’s going to be difficult from now. I don’t think we are a bad team, but it will be important in the cup final to give this season some extra colour and finish in a positive way.
“The teams are close on quality and in a lot of aspects. We need to find new energy after a difficult weekend, but I think we have that in us and have everything to play for in the cup final.
“We know what we can do in the cup final and where we can hurt them, it’s going to be a mental thing as well to overcome what we had last week.
“This team has experience and we need to take that. Losing is unfortunately part of sometimes being at a big club. To show you are a champion you need to react to losing, go again hard and hit the button ahead of the final.”
