Neil McCann blasts ‘nasty’ Adam Lewis challenge on Rangers star Ianis Hagi
Neil McCann has blasted Livingston defender Adam Lewis for his “nasty challenge” on Rangers star Ianis Hagi in the Gers’ 3-0 win at Ibrox on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Romanian was forced off the pitch after 31 minutes despite seeming as though he recovered from the 13th-minute incident.
Lewis was booked for the tackle and McCann was less than pleased with the left-back, who was making his Livi debut after joining on loan from Liverpool.
Speaking on BBC Sportscene, McCann said: “This was a nasty challenge.
“Young Lewis had a real introduction into Scottish football but that’s the worst angle there (image below).
“You can see there it’s not the impact on the right leg, it’s the left one that takes the hit.”
We can expect more of this
We were barely 15 minutes into the new Premiership season and Lewis’ challenge on Hagi set the tone for what we can expect all the way until May.
Rangers walked all over this league last season, defeating every team and conceding just 13 goals on the way to the title.
We have a target on our backs, if we didn’t already, and players like Livingston’s are going to resort to dirty tactics in order to try and stop us.
Hagi was on fire in the opening stages of the game on Saturday and he thoroughly deserved his goal in the eighth minute after brilliantly trapping the ball and guiding it into the net.
And clearly, the only way Livingston could cope with the Romania international was to scythe him down, injure him and force him out of the match.
It now remains to be seen whether the playmaker will be ready to play against Malmo next week in a vital Champions League qualifier.
Lewis should have received more than a yellow card for a challenge that was clearly intended to hurt and injure an opponent.
Unfortunately, this might become a recurring thing throughout the season as other clubs try to put the brakes on our march to number 56.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart was spouting absolute nonsense about this Scottish Gers ace.