Cyriel Dessers has claimed that the gap between Rangers and Celtic is 'not that big'.
The Dutchman's statement comes after five derby matches between the pair this season - with the Ibrox club failing to win any.
Brendan Rodgers and his team won four out of five, with Rabbi Matondo preventing it from being a clean sweep during the 3-3 encounter in early April.
Dessers - who was forced off injured at half-time at Hampden on Saturday - believes most observers would agree with his statement that there isn't much between the teams, despite Celtic also running out comfortable winners in the Scottish Premiership.
🗣️'If you look at the five games this season the gap is not that big' Speaking after his side's Scottish Cup final defeat, Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers says seeing Celtic's celebrations gives him a lot of "energy" for next season ⤵️#BBCFootball #ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/Cozi6MRyb0
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) May 27, 2024
“Everybody is devastated," the 29-year-old said. "We were close and we played a good game. It wasn’t an easy game and if you lose it that way in the end then obviously it hurts.
“Even if you look at the five games between the teams this season the gap is not that big. Everybody has seen that. But there is still something about these games. We didn’t win this season any of them.
"But on the other hand, the performance that we had on Saturday and the game plan that we had worked. It was good and that’s something to build on, especially in these head-to-head games.”
He continued: "To see them celebrate [on Saturday] and 10 days ago gives me a lot of energy to go again this summer.
“It maybe seems weird to say now, but I cannot wait for pre-season to start again and to do better than this season. I’m looking forward to that.
“We have to turn things over in our favour. We’re on a good path but we’re not there yet. If you look at the balance at the end of the season we showed good things, but we’re not there yet.
“We will go further along that path and I’m sure it will lead us to more trophies next season.”
