Rangers v Celtic: Chris Sutton blasts Cameron Carter-Vickers as incident has Ibrox up in arms
Chris Sutton lambasted defender Cameron Carter-Vickers early on in the 3-3 Old Firm draw between Rangers and Celtic on 7 April, after he was lucky to get away with a poor piece of play.
Barely 10 minutes into this afternoon’s highly-anticipated fixture between the two Glasgow rivals, Carter-Vickers dragged Rangers full-back Dijon Sterling to ground and conceded a free-kick.
The USMNT international centre-back then proceeded to kick the ball away from where Sterling’s free-kick was about to be taken, preventing Rangers from quickly exploiting an exposed Celtic defence.
Given that time-wasting play like that usually results in a booking, the home fans at Ibrox were far from happy when the referee didn’t further penalise Carter-Vickers, and Sutton understood their frustrations.
On commentary for Sky Sports Main Event (12:10pm, 7 April), Sutton said: “It’s daft from Cameron Carter-Vickers. Those situations, you kick the ball away in games, you’re seeing a yellow card.”
Rangers set to target Carter-Vickers in second half of Old Firm
It’s no surprise that the home faithful at Ibrox were incensed when Carter-Vickers avoided a yellow card for his blatant foul play, particularly given Rangers were already 1-0 down at the time.
Daizen Maeda was the beneficiary of some poor defending by the hosts just 21 seconds into the contest, with James Tavernier forced into a rushed clearance which ricocheted off Maeda and flew into the top corner!
Celtic have seen three players booked since, with Carter-Vickers extremely lucky not to have joined them, but the visiting side haven’t let those cautions slow their momentum and added a second through Matt O’Riley’s penalty mid-way through the half.
Rangers will feel they’ve still got plenty to give in the second half, and with Carter-Vickers already shown to have been isolated by Sterling early in the match, they’ll fancy their chances of finding success by running straight down his path.
In other Rangers’ news, James McClean was quick to give his thoughts following Tavernier’s howler in the opening seconds of the match.
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