Callum O'Connell

Mon 4 September 2023 8:40, UK

Neil McCann has hit out at the “ridiculous” decision to disallow Rangers’ opening goal in the eventual 1-0 defeat to Celtic at Ibrox on 3 September.

McCann has claimed that the laws of the game are the problem rather than the decision itself, stating that the decision was correct because of the rules, but he doesn’t believe Cyriel Dessers committed a foul.

The Rangers striker got his leg across Gustaf Lagerbielke, knocking him to the ground in a display of strength before squaring the ball to Kemar Roofe who fired home, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review.

Speaking live on BBC Sportscene [3 September], McCann stated: “I don’t agree with the rule, and I don’t agree with the hand-ball rule – that’s ridiculous in itself – so because those laws are there that means it [the decision] is right.

“As footballers, we’ll always try and challenge the laws of the game, we’ll always have our opinions on it, but that to me is almost saying you can’t go in and steal the ball, you can’t get your body between the ball and man in desperation getting yourself across.

“I just think that the young kid [Lagerbielke] got caught on the ball, he dwelled on it, Dessers has got across him by his strength and got ahead of the game.

“If there’s anybody going to make a case to the referee you’d think it would be the Celtic captain – but he doesn’t, he’s got a problem with his centre-back.”

A tight call to make

While, to the letter of the law, the referee’s decision may have been the correct one, it is hard to argue the challenge was simply a show of strength from the Rangers man rather than a blatant foul in the build-up to the goal.

The referee didn’t take any issue with it immediately, and you could probably say that sort of challenge happens in midfield four or five times per game but because it doesn’t lead to a goal nobody bats an eyelid. It appears to be another VAR call that could have gone either way.

You would also have to think that had it been the other way round and it was Dessers about to get a shot off before being impeded by the Celtic centre-back, Gers fans would have been screaming for a foul, so it’s the sort of incident where your view of it depends on which side of the coin you fall.

It cannot, however, be an excuse for Rangers’ loss. The team ultimately weren’t good enough on the day and didn’t deserve to win that game, regardless of any contentious refereeing calls that were made.

In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton mocked what people were saying about Rangers live on Sky Sports.