Ex-FIFA official rages over controversy in Rangers v Borussia Dortmund as unseen footage emerges
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive Rangers columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Ibrox…
Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz will not referee another UEFA match this season after an “awful” error in Rangers’ 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund on Thursday night, according to Keith Hackett.
Ryan Kent thought he’d put the Light Blues 3-2 ahead in the Europa League tie at Ibrox but after checking the pitchside monitor, Lahoz disallowed the Englishman’s goal and gave Dortmund free-kick for an apparent foul by Alfredo Morelos on Emre Can.
However, after the decision was given, BT Sport shared footage of the incident that wasn’t shown to Lahoz on the pitchside monitor. You can see the footage below and it clearly shows that Can kicks the back of Morelos before going to the ground.
While the Gers went on to win 6-4 on aggregate and set up a round-of-16 showdown with Crvena Zvezda, Hackett says the scoreline is no excuse and expects Lahoz to be snubbed by UEFA until next season.
Speaking to Ibrox News about the controversial disallowed goal, ex-FIFA and Premier League official Hackett said: “Perfectly good goal – and this guy’s an experienced referee.
“It’s not a foul so there’s not been an offence and the player is behind the ball [so it’s not offside].
“At UEFA level, this is an awful decision and the punishment in UEFA for a big error of this nature is usually for the referee to not get another appointment for the remainder of the season.
“It doesn’t matter what the end result is, the importance surrounds the accuracy of a decision.
“There are two areas of doubt. He’s wrong on the free-kick but there’s no foul and it can’t be offside because Kent is behind the ball. It’s very clear on the video.
“This is a really, really poor piece of officiating.
“It’s probably the worst decision I’ve seen for a long time by a UEFA official.”
In other Rangers news, Kris Boyd was blown away by this “unbelievable” player in the second leg against Dortmund.