A STUNNED Jose Mourinho said it all after Thursday night’s Europa League reverse to Rangers in Istanbul when he admitted Cyriel Dessers “played like the best player in the world”.

That’s a slight exaggeration from the Portuguese managerial icon, as Dessers’ detractors could still point out twice he fell narrowly foul of the offside line or another couple of times his final ball wasn’t perfect.

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Jose Mourinho was amazed by the performanceCredit: Getty

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Cyriel Dessers was outstanding on the nightCredit: Getty

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Bartley (middle) said his inbox is open for Gers fan apologies over DessersCredit: SNS

But a goal and a brilliant assist for Vaclav Cerny in Istanbul was an excellent return from an industrious display which will add to the big Nigerian’s legend.

And Mourinho wasn’t the only man who underestimated Dessers, judging by Clyde 1 Superscoreboard pundit Marvin Bartley‘s comments on X.

Bartley has been a consistent backer of the striker, pointing out that others deserve more stick than him – only to be on the wrong end of scathing comments from Gers fans on social media.

So there was a little bit of ‘I told you so’ as he took to Twitter last night telling them: “Inbox is open for private Dessers apologies!!”.

To be fair, many Gers fans weren’t slow in getting back to him.

One replied: “Happy make mine public boss.”

A second said: “Forget the private apologies. Public apologies are needed by some people! Big man was immense tonight!”

A third replied: “100% Marvin, absolutely immense tonight. Does not get the credit he deserves.”

A fourth said: “Easily his best performance in a Rangers jersey. Outstanding tonight.”

Bartley replied: “Goal contributions from him are unreal.

Turkish Rangers fan with kids called Red, White and Blue

“That’s why he has to play for me.”

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