'Very happy for him': Vaclav Cerny delighted after watching one Rangers teammate shine in 4-1 Nice win
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Vaclav Cerny may have produced his fair share of virtuoso performances of late but the Rangers winger is the first to admit that help is always required.
Scoring in successive matches against Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership and OGC Nice in the Europa League, the Wolfsburg loanee now has seven goals or assists in his last seven Rangers appearances.
But while Vaclav Cerny is obviously a footballer who can pull rabbits out of hats with one swish of his trusty left boot, the Czech magician still needs a glamorous assistant to make his life that little bit easier.
On Saturday, as Rangers fought back to draw with Dundee United, Cerny ran onto a clever Danilo assist to slot home.
The Rangers duo formed a ‘sensational’ partnership at FC Twente in the Eredivisie a few seasons back. And, with the Brazilian returning to action, that old connection was finally revisited on Scottish soil.
On Thursday evening in the Allianz Riviera, however, it was Hamza Igamane who inspired Rangers’ 4-1 hammering of Nice. In addition to his quick-fire brace either side of half-time, the £1.7 million signing from RAF Rabat set up Cerny’s 35th minute opener as he intercepted a loose ball in the penalty area and laid it off for the winger to strike a deflected effort past Marcin Bulka.
Vaclav Cerny hails Hamza Igamane role as Rangers thrash Nice
Justifying Philippe Clement’s faith and his involvement ahead of usual number nine Cyriel Dessers, Cerny was delighted to see Igamane really announce himself as a Rangers player while trebling his tally for the Glasgow giants in the space of just six minutes.
“I am very happy for him,” Cerny smiles at full-time. “The whole squad and the team, we knew what we were going to do. And for him, as a striker, very important that he is on the scoring sheet.”
Cerny is keen to point out, however, that this was a collective effort rather than a one-man show.
Dujon Sterling, Nicolas Raskin and Connor Barron were outstanding too, while Mohamed Diomande produced arguably his most eye-catching Rangers display since making a permanent £4.3 million switch to the Scottish giants.
Diomande’s sublime clipped finish put Rangers 2-0 up in France before the Igamane show began.
“I think that the most important thing is the team performance,” Cerny argues. “We were very effective today and that is what we needed. That is what you need in such a game, so [we are all feeling] positive about that.
“It is very important [to build on this with St Johnstone to come]. Now, it is a recovery period, fly back home and full focus on Sunday and confirm that we are in a good shape and switch on the league again."
Philippe Clement lauds superb all-round Igamane display in France
Dessers may have his work cut out forcing Igamane out of Clement’s XI at McDiarmid Park.
Any striker in the Belgian’s system must offer a goal threat, of course, but also the physicality and the willingness to hold up the ball and run in behind the opposition backline. In that sense, it was about the perfect centre-forward’s performance from Igamane in Nice.
"[I told him] that this was not an exam for him, that he's making the good steps. He gets the chance also because he's proving the right things in the training with his work attitude, with the things he does with the ball,” Clement told reporters at full-time.
"But he was crucial today to win the duels. It was crucial in this game against Nice to do that because they're really strong in pressing one-on-one. If you don't have this high support to win duels, you don't come in the game because you're all the time pressured. You cannot keep the ball.
"So it was a massive, important role that he had today and he did it brilliantly.
