Rangers disgrace slammed after ‘incredible’ incident v Athletic Bilbao
Rangers held on to a 0-0 draw against Athletic Club at Ibrox in the Europa League on Thursday, but the tie wasn’t without its controversies.
Robin Propper’s red card reduced Barry Ferguson’s team to 10 players early in the first half, and they arguably did well to stop the La Liga outfit from scoring.
The centre-back’s predicament was one of the contentious decisions of the fixture, with Ally McCoist against the sending-off at Ibrox.
VAR was also heavily involved in the second half, with Dujon Sterling being penalised for a handball in the build-up to the Athletic goal that was ruled out.
Athletic shouldn’t have been awarded penalty v Rangers at Ibrox
Athletic shouldn’t have been awarded a penalty after Sterling’s handball, which Liam Kelly subsequently saved, Keith Jackson says.
The Daily Record journalist fumed at the decision, calling it a disgrace as the defender had his back to the ball and couldn’t see it.
Jackson feels the officials tried to look at several ways to make the original goal stand before ultimately awarding the visitors a spot kick.
Speaking on Hotline Live (10 April), the journalist said: “It’s never a penalty. It’s a disgraceful decision. They’ve looked for as many ways as they can to make the goal stand in the first place even though it’s clearly offside.
“Then they take a look at a deliberate handball when his back was to it. He had no way of seeing where the ball was. I just thought that was an incredible decision.”
Ferguson proud of defensive performance at Ibrox v Athletic
Ferguson’s team did well in holding off Athletic after the red card, and the interim manager will undoubtedly be pleased with their performance.
The Ibrox faithful will be confident going into the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final in Bilbao despite the Gers not being favourites.
While the display against the Spanish outfit was resolute, the Light Blues ended the game with nine players as Sterling was stretchered off.
Rangers will be concerned about more fitness issues cropping up before travelling to San Mames as they can’t afford them.
The Bears will be delighted to potentially have John Souttar and Mohamed Diomande back for the second leg after they served their suspension.
There’ll still be a lot of decisions to make regarding the starting lineup since Propper is suspended.
Ferguson may also want to make changes on his forward line, with Ianis Hagi impressing many with his dogged display.
The Ibrox faithful will hope the refereeing in Spain will be better than it was in Glasgow.