RANGERS had Thelo Aasgaard sent off in Sunday’s fiery Old Firm cup clash against Celtic.
While much of the fall-out has centred around whether the Hoops should’ve had a red card too, one former leading referee reckons it was RANGERS who were lucky to escape another dismissal.
Celtic emerged victorious at Hampden after extra time with a 3-1 win sending them through to the Premier Sports Cup Final.
Johnny Kenny headed the opening goal prior to Aasgaard’s red card before a James Tavernier penalty sent things to an extra half an hour.
Goals from Callum McGregor and Callum Osmand secured the win for Martin O’Neill’s men.
It was a game with plenty of controversial decisions.
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While Aasgaard saw red on 38 minutes for a heavy and high challenge on Tony Ralston, Celtic’s Auston Trusty escaped the same punishment after kicking Jack Butland’s head.
Much of the fall-out from the game has centred around that incident with the majority of pundits in agreement that the Hoops defender should have been sent off.
However, it’s ANOTHER incident that caught the attention of former Fifa and English Premier League referee Keith Hackett.
And it’s an incident that he reckons should have seen another RANGERS player shown a red card.
There were nine yellow cards and Aasgaard’s red in the heated derby counter.
The first card of the game was a yellow shown to Gers defender Derek Cornelius in the 24th minute.
The Canadian flew into a challenge on Johnny Kenny and caught the Celtic man on the ankle.
Referee Nick Walsh brandished yellow and VAR Steven McLean decided no further action was necessary.
But Hackett reckons Cornelius should have seen red for the tackle.
He told Ibrox News: “The player launches himself off the ground and into his opponent.
“The foul challenge warranted a red card for serious foul play.
“The challenge used excessive force and endangered the safety of his opponent.
“The colour of the card raised should have been red not yellow.”
In terms of Trusty’s challenge, the verdict has largely been that he should have been sent off.
The entire Premier Sports punditry team as well as former referee Bobby Madden reckon the American was lucky not to see red after sticking his boot in Butland’s head.
However, Hackett reckons yellow was the CORRECT decision and contrary to various other opinions believes there was NO malice in Trusty’s actions.
The former ref continued: “The Celtic player could easily have avoided contact with the goalkeeper.
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“However the yellow card for a reckless challenge was for me the correct decision.
“There was no malice in the actions of the Celtic player and that has saved him from receiving a red card.”
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