Celtic won the latest Old Firm clash but it was an explosive clash at Celtic Park, with red cards dished out to two Rangers players and Ryan Kent possibly lucky to stay on the pitch.
Alfredo Morelos was the first to see red, after just 31 minutes, for lashing out at Celtic’s Scott Brown. Andy Halliday was sent off in the tunnel at the end.
Talking on Ref Watch (Sky Sports, Monday, 11.30am), Dermot Gallagher said that referee Bobby Madden had an “excellent” game but should also have sent Kent off.
Asked whether the Morelos incident was worth a red, Gallagher replied, “Absolutely. And in fairness Steven Gerrard has come out and said the same. It’s just not the thing to do, especially in a game of this magnitude.”
He was then asked about the Kent incident, after the Rangers player seemingly threw a punch at Brown. Gallagher said if the referee had seen it he would have awarded Kent a red but said that officials can’t see everything.
“I think we all know that but the referee was down the other end of the pitch. What I would say is that this was a tough match to referee and I thought he [Madden] did brilliant. You can say he should have seen that but you can’t see everything.”
And that wasn’t the end of the controversy, with Andy Halliday also sent off after a confrontation with Scott Brown.
The confrontation started on the pitch and Halliday was shown the red in the tunnel afterwards, something that Gallagher said could have stopped further confrontations on the pitch.
“The ref is in control of the players from the moment they enter the pitch to when they leave, but it may well be that he saw this [the on-pitch confrontation] as the offence and issued the card in the tunnel to defuse the situation.
“I think if you award the card there it could inflame things more. It was just not a nice scene to watch at the end of the game. And I think that’s where he did really well. He kept control of his own emotions. He needed a tranquilliser gun for that game not a whistle. It was a really, really tough game but I thought he was excellent.
OPINION
Scottish referees have been getting in the neck this season but you have to say that Madden got most things right on Sunday, and it was a very hard game to officiate. You can’t really argue with the Morelos red card, despite some extreme provocation from Scott Brown. Brown did nothing to warrant a card from Madden but he probably should have been spoken to – if not by the officials then by Neil Lennon. It’s not sporting play to deliberately try to get an opponent sent off and Brown grinning as Morelos was given his marching orders is an ugly reminder that the beautiful game often isn’t. Ryan Kent should have been awarded a red as well but we’re not sure about Halliday. Perhaps there was something else that we didn’t witness, but if he was sent off for the confrontation on the pitch then that surely could have been avoided. Emotions were high and the players just needed separating. Saying that, we wouldn’t fancy officiating an Old Firm clash, and the next one at Ibrox could be even more explosive – especially if Celtic can win the title there.