Philippe Clement has revealed Cyriel Dessers apologised to him after heading straight up the tunnel when he was subbed off in Rangers' win over FCSB.
The Ibrox striker was visibly emotional as he trudged straight off the pitch and to the changing rooms after being replaced in the second half.
Clement has admitted he was caught totally off guard by Dessers' actions but insisted the striker had to be replaced as he had lost vision after taking a finger to the eye in the Europa League contest.
However, Clement did concede it would have been better for Dessers to go down on the pitch to allow for a sub to be prepared properly with Hamza Igamane rushed to ready himself to come on for Dessers.
Asked if he was surprised by Dessers' reaction, Clement said: "Yeah, totally. He apologised for that.
"He was so emotional. He was hungry to score, hungry to play good for the team.
Read more:
"He got a knock on his eye and lost eyesight. He could not see anything any more or not enough to play so he was emotional in that moment because he didn't want to come off. But he could not play.
"Afterwards he said, 'Sorry manager I should have stayed longer and sit down and give time for the rest' but it was an emotional reaction of a player who is very hungry to play."
Discussing the incident on BBC, Clement explained: "Cyriel had a knock, or a finger in his eye or something in his eye - so he lost sight, he couldn’t see good anymore.
"He was quite emotional about it because he wanted to stay on the pitch, but he didn’t see anything so he ran off the pitch.
“It was a really strange moment for me, but he apologised after the game. It’s better to sit down and give time for a teammate to come in, but it was in the emotions of one thing to win, one thing to react, one thing to play well - which he was doing also - so no problems with that.
"But it’s good lessons also for this young squad to take everything in a more professional way.”
