Brendan Rodgers was lucky to escape a red card at Hampden as referee Kevin Clancy landed praise over his approach.
The Celtic boss was left red-faced at the national stadium after taking a tumble while attempting to kick the ball back onto the field of play. The Parkhead gaffer was handed a yellow card from the match referee. However, Bobby Madden has revealed Rodgers in fact should have been sent to the stands with the laws ‘very clear’ but praised his former referee colleague for showing common sense and only issuing a yellow during the semi-final showdown with Aberdeen.
Sharing a clip of Rodgers shaping up to boot the ball back onto the turf from the touchline, Madden caption his post as ‘common sense prevails’ before writing: “The referee should be praised in this instance as you see the ball leave the field of play for a throw in to Aberdeen and the Celtic manager clearly kicks the ball away delaying the restart for his opponent. The laws are very clear that this should be a red card but the referee showed common sense and only issued a yellow card.”
His post also shared a grab of the rulebook that states: “3. Disciplinary action: Sending-off. Sending-off offences include (but are not limited to): delaying the restart of play by the opposing team e.g holding onto the ball, kicking the ball away, obstructing the movement of a player.”
It was a thumping win for Celtic as they put six past Aberdeen to inflict a first defeat on Jimmy Thelin since his arrival in the Granite City. They will now return to Hampden next month for the Premier Sports Cup Final and face one of Rangers or Motherwell.
Reflecting on the moment he hit the deck at Hampden, Rodgers said: “To be fair, it was well deserved! I shouldn’t be falling over there. It was because I kicked the ball on to the pitch. I bounced up pretty quickly, probably from embarrassment. It was a bit slippy with my shoes so it was a good decision by Kevin.”