Clinton Nsiala could be in hot water after Rangers' win v Hearts. (Credit: Imago)

SFA 'to review' Nsiala incident v Hearts, Rangers star faces retrospective action

Refereeing Consultant AUTHORITY Former FIFA Referee; Head of PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited). Focus: Laws of the Game, VAR implementation, officiating performance, and PGMOL policy. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Officiating Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Incident Accuracy Rates, VAR Intervention Latency, and Official Positional Efficiency. He provides technical refereeing analysis to reveal the regulatory reality behind match-defining decisions.

Published on:

16 Feb 2025, 10:25 am

Clinton Nsiala could be in trouble with the Scottish FA after Rangers beat Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday, according to Keith Hackett.

Nsiala, 21, started a sixth consecutive Scottish Premiership game as the Light Blues got back to winning ways following their shock Scottish Cup defeat to Queen's Park last week.

While the game ended 3-1 in favour of the Gers, it was a scrappy win with Jamie McCart scoring two own goals for Philippe Clement, who remains under pressure at Ibrox.

Nsiala remained fairly solid at the back for Rangers. However, Hackett was less than impressed by the French defender's antics in the first half.

Nsiala deceives John Beaton with Rangers simulation

In the 39th minute, John Beaton awarded Rangers a free-kick after Nsiala was adjudged to have been fouled by Adam Forrester.

The former Nantes and AC Milan centre-back barely made any contact with Forrester but threw himself to the ground and rolled over several times.

Former FIFA and Premier League official Hackett believes Beaton should have booked Nsiala and has suggested that the SFA should get involved and issue a retrospective sanction for the defender.

"This was a clear act of simulation aimed at deceiving the referee," Hackett told Ibrox News.

Picture of Rangers manager Philippe Clement

Rangers manager Philippe Clement is under huge pressure at Ibrox despite the win v Hearts. (Credit: Imago)

"I want to see these incidents result in a yellow card.

"There was a time when the Scottish FA would review these incidents after the game and issue a sanction to the offending player."

Nsiala should be ashamed of Rangers actions

It's embarrassing to see players do this.

It's not just Nsiala because all players do it nowadays no matter what league, no matter what nationality and no matter what team.

Referees are simply not helping the situation and neither are the footballing authorities.

Essentially, Nsiala got away with deceiving Beaton and in doing so, won his side a free-kick.

If Beaton thought it was an actual foul on Nsiala because of the Rangers defender's actions against Hearts in the Scottish Premiership, the SFA should look into the incident and issue a retrospective punishement.

Rangers

Hearts

SFA

Scottish Premiership