Paulo Bernardo lucky to avoid ‘bad injury’ as footage of Conor Goldson incident shown after Rangers loss v Celtic
Peter Grant has suggested that Paulo Bernardo was lucky to avoid a “bad injury” as footage emerged of an incident between the Celtic ace and Rangers’ Connor Goldson in the Old Firm derby.
Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops secured the Glasgow bragging rights with a 2-1 win on Saturday (30 December) with goals from Bernardo and Kyogo Furuhashi ensuring James Tavernier’s late free-kick was nothing more than a consolation.
Some Rangers supporters felt Bernardo was lucky to avoid a second yellow for a foul on Goldson during the second half at Celtic Park, but BBC pundit Grant thinks otherwise, suggesting the Celtic man was fortunate to not pick up a major knock.
Speaking on BBC Sportscene (30 December, 24:46) he said: “At first I thought he was going to be lucky here, but when you look at it, I think Connor Goldson is really lucky. I think he ends up going over the ball.
“Goldson is hurt on the top of the knee and I think he’s (Bernardo) very lucky he didn’t get a bad injury there. I think people are saying it’s a second yellow, but he had a fantastic performance as well.”
Not a chance
During the incident that Grant has pinpointed in the Old Firm clash, only one of the two players involved in the challenge has actually made an attempt to play the ball and it isn’t Celtic’s man.
While Goldson does connect with Bernardo in his follow-through, that is well after he has cleared the ball well clear and the Celtic man has just stood in front of him. While the impact could have hurt Celtic’s goal scorer, it could have done plenty of damage to Rangers’ centre-back as well.
It felt as though almost every continuous decision during Saturday’s game went the way of the home side and while Rangers may have won the free kick for this incident, they will have really felt like Bernardo’s challenge warranted a second yellow card.
Grant may be of the opinion that Goldson was the fortunate party in this coming together, but it feels as though the BBC pundit could well be in the minority with the assessment of the incident, especially among Rangers supporters.
In other Rangers news, Leeds defender Charlie Cresswell is ready to quit at Elland Road amid links with a move to Ibrox