Lee McCulloch reacts to Rangers decision live on Sky Sports amid ‘struggling’ verdict
Lee McCulloch thinks Rangers have good grounds for their appeal against the red card shown to Jose Cifuentes.
The Ecuador midfielder sent off late in the first half of Saturday’s (9 December) 3-1 win at Ibrox for an alleged stamp on Dundee forward Amadou Bakayoko.
Rangers confirmed on Monday they had challenged the decision as they hope to have Cifuentes available for Sunday’s (17 December) Viaplay Cup final against Aberdeen.
Former Rangers player McCulloch, a pundit for BBC and Sky, understands why the club have appealed, especially given they are “struggling” for options in midfield.
Speaking to Sky Sports News (13:15), he said: “Yes, I do understand why. It’s not an area of the pitch they’ve got a lot of people fit, they’re struggling in there at the moment.
“So, it would make sense to appeal the card to try and make him available and get it turned round, and yes I do think there’s grounds there for the appeal and obviously so do Rangers that’s why they’ve gone ahead with it.
“I didn’t see any malice in the challenge, I think he’s caught him but there was no intent and whether it’s serious and dangerous play, whatever they call it, that will be up to the panel to decide, but I definitely think there’s grounds there.”
Nervy wait
The last thing Philippe Clement needed was to lose another in midfield, especially with Nico Raskin, Ryan Jack and makeshift holding midfielder Tom Lawrence already unavailable to him.
Cifuentes can, of course, play their next game in the Europa League against Real Betis on Thursday (14 December) but as things stand he will not able to play against Aberdeen when Rangers go in search of some early silverware under Clement.
Whether they do have him available is obviously unclear. The panel will need to be convinced that the referee made a big error in sending him off, and they decide that the official enforced the rules of the game in the correct manner.
McCulloch is right in the sense that it was definitely worth launching the appeal because having Cifuentes available would be a huge boost due to the lack of numbers available in the engine room right now. Here’s hoping for good news before the weekend.
In other Rangers news, a “nonsense” Leon King update has been provided after talks emerge.