Dujon Sterling slams 'desperate' Rangers ref after Europa League controversy

Dujon Sterling has hit out at referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoechea for his performance in Rangers' Europa League clash with Nice on Thursday.

The 'Gers picked up a big win in France on 28 November, with goals from Vaclav Cerny and Mohammed Diomande, as well as a double from Hamza Igamane, securing a 4-1 win.

However, the game was not without early controversy, with Bengoechea awarding a penalty to Nice in the sixth minute, before a lengthy VAR review saw three separate incidents checked and cleared.

After an effort had been parried away by Jack Butland, both John Souttar and Sterling were scrutinised for handball, while Connor Barron was also checked for a challenge inside the area.

Ultimately, no penalty was given, but the Rangers right-back was clearly unimpressed with the Spanish official's catch-all approach to possible infringements.

Writing on X after the game, the 25-year-old said: "Good European performance from the boys, great atmosphere from fans. [By the way] anyone know why the ref was desperate to give them a pen".

Philippe Clement pressure eases with major Rangers win

Football Insider Opinion

You can certainly understand why Sterling was unimpressed with the referee's decision to give Nice a penalty on Thursday, prior to that intervention from VAR.

In the case of both him and Souttar their arms were nowhere near an unnatural position, with both tucking them into their bodies.

To award a penalty against either of them would therefore have been extremely harsh, given no benefit was gained from it if the ball did even hit their hands.

Barron meanwhile, also won the ball cleanly with his challenge, so there was no cause to penalise Rangers at any point.

Given the game was still 0-0 when it happened things could have played out very differently had the spot kick stood.

As it is, Sterling went on to enjoy a successful evening, even compared to some of his teammates, including providing an excellent assist to set up Diomande to make it 2-0.

This is a result that could also go some way to easing some of the pressure on Rangers boss Philippe Clement after their underwhelming start to the season so far.

With that in mind, the intervention of VAR here could have major repercussions at Ibrox for some time to come yet.

In other news, Steven Naismith has given his verdict on Lawrence Shankland joining Rangers.

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