Dessers names the Super Eagles player who allowed him to take spot kick, rates himself v Ghana  

Cyriel Dessers has admitted that he was not the first-choice penalty for the Super Eagles in their 2-1 win over the Black Stars of Ghana on Friday evening.

Moroccan referee Jayed Jalal awarded a spot kick to the Super Eagles with ten minutes left in the first half after the ball made contact with Jerome Opoku's arm inside the box. 

The Super Eagles usual penalty takers - William Troost-Ekong, Ahmed Musa and Moses Simon - were not on the pitch, so Kelechi Iheanacho was supposed to take the spot kick. 

Dessers revealed that he begged Iheanacho to allow him take the penalty which was won by the Super Eagles number 14.

The Rangers striker put the ball in the bottom right corner and sent Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi the wrong way to open the scoring. 

When asked if he felt confident taking the penalty, Dessers told reporters post-match: "I asked Kelechi if I could take it, he said you can do it.

"It's special to take a penalty for the Super Eagles because it's for a whole country and in a special game against Ghana, you'll definitely want to score."

Dessers said that he had a good performance in the first half but things were a little harder for the whole team after the interval.

Reviewing the win against the Black Stars, he said: "In the beginning of the first half we started very good. We had some chances, the goalkeeper saved a good one from me, a good one from Kelechi, and then I was happy to finally get the goal that put us 1-0 up. It's a good victory for us."

Rating his own performance, Dessers said: "First half I played a really good game. Second half was a little bit more difficult but I think it was more difficult for the whole team.

"This is a good thing for me to come back to the team and to play a good game, to win an important game. Hopefully this can be a step up for the future."

More than three years after making his international debut for the Super Eagles, Dessers is not yet cap-tied to the three-time African champions as all his appearances have been in friendly matches. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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