Michael Beale speaks out live on Sky Sports about controversy in Rangers 3-3 draw v Celtic
Michael Beale believes the officials were right to award Rangers a penalty in the draw against Celtic on 7 April.
Speaking on Sky Sports News on Wednesday (10 April, 07:28pm), the former Gers boss said Alastair Johnston got a nick on the ball, but that the Hoops defender caught Fabio Silva on the knee before a VAR check led to referee John Beaton pointing to the spot.
He added that it was a “fantastic” penalty from the Light Blues captain James Tavernier as he brought his side back into the game in their 3-3 draw against their Old Firm rivals at Ibrox.
“I thought a lot of the big decisions in the game were correct from the referee,” said Beale. “Every time this game is on, there is a lot of controversy around the decisions. But I thought the decisions were correct on the day.
“This decision (the foul on Fabio Silva), I think is correct. He does get a nick on the ball, but not enough to take it off and he catches him on the knee. For me, if he doesn’t catch him, then Silva goes on. It’s a fantastic penalty from Tavernier.”
Were Rangers right to be awarded penalty against Celtic?
This is an incident that has caused plenty of debate over the past few days as there is potentially an argument from both sides.
While Johnston does clearly get a touch on the ball, it isn’t exactly a clean tackle as he kind of swipes at it before catching Silva on the knee.
It’s a decision where you’d be expecting it to go your way as the attacking player, but the defender will argue he got the ball first.
That potentially doesn’t matter if you eventually do make contact with the opposition player because the forward could have still run through and got the ball if he wasn’t brought down.
It’s likely the debate around this incident is going to rumble on for at least a few more days, but at least it was an exciting game between the two sides and the title race is still very much alive.
In other Rangers news, Chris Jack has shared a disciplinary update after what happened to the Gers.
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