Martin O’Neill spotted ‘going ballistic’ off-camera in Celtic vs Rangers clash, here’s why
Rangers and Celtic put everything on the line in the first half of their Premier Sports Cup semi-final on Sunday.
An end-to-end opening 45 minutes ultimately ended with Celtic going into the interval 1-0 up at Hampden Park and a man better off.
Danny Rohl made a big selection call for Rangers ahead of the game, with skipper James Tavernier coming back into the side.
Mohamed Diomande and Thelo Aasgaard also returned, with Connor Barron among those to drop out due to suspension.
Revenge was the order of the day for Rangers and the first half certainly did not let down in terms of talking points.
Michael Stewart spots Michael O’Neill going nuts at Hampden
Celtic had a Rangers own goal ruled out for offside, but that is not what riled O’Neill.
Instead, it was a Daizen Maeda challenge on Danilo that was penalised, despite seemingly getting some of the ball.
Speaking live on Premier Sports’ live coverage of the match, Michael Stewart said of the moment not picked up on TV: “O’Neill is going ballistic down on the touchline.
“Maeda busts a gut to get back in and I’m not sure what he’s been penalised for there.”
Maeda, to his credit, did appear to get some of the ball. That moment had nothing on what was about to follow, though, as Nicolas Raskin’s own goal was ruled out for Maeda being offside.
The officials got the lines out to spot that the Celtic player was an inch – at best – offside. But Rangers’ reprieve did not last long at all as Johnny Kenny opened the scoring 25 minutes in.
Rangers had some big chances to level, with Raskin having a one-on-one saved and Youssef Chermiti missing a glorious opportunity.
Then came a killer blow as Aasgaard was issued a straight red card to leave his side with a massive mountain to climb.
Youssef Chermiti’s struggles continue
Chermiti was somewhat fortunate to start against Celtic and, had there been a more prolific player up top, it would not have been 1-0 at half-time.
Rangers looked shaky for large parts of the first half, and often went backwards too often, but they created chances and deserved to be level after going behind.
However, the intensity dropped off in the final 10 minutes of the half and Aasgaard’s red now leaves the Gers with it all to do.
Rohl’s only choice at the break will surely be to make a change or two in order to throw everything at Celtic.
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