Referee Bobby Madden appears to be proud of his performance during the recent Celtic vs Rangers match, despite criticism from manager Neil Lennon.
The Bhoys boss was left fuming with some of the decisions Madden made during the match.
His biggest issue was the red card shown to Celtic defender Nir Bitton.
As quoted by The Daily Record, Lennon said: “The referee has made the wrong decision, and it’s changed the course of the game.
“It’s not a sending off, it’s a foul. We’ve got Ajer coming in on the cover and Morelos is in a wide position.
“It’s not a clear and obvious goalscoring opportunity. He might get a shot off but he’s certainly not clear through on goal.
“I think he (Madden) was too quick to get the red card out.”
Madden attracted Celtic fan ire too
Some Celtic supporters weren’t best pleased either, not just taking issue with the red card, but the fact he failed to card Alfredo Morelos for a late tackle on Jeremie Frimpong.
Madden was also spotted holding back Morelos during a stramash between the two sets of players, which was perceived as protecting the Colombian.
However, the senior ref appears to be pretty proud of his performance, taking to Instagram after the game to big up his 11th year in the top-flight.
The posting of multiple pictures holding players back also appears to respond to upset supporters. He’s indicating this is something he does in fixtures between all teams.
We’ve seen in the past that Morelos can lose his head on these occasions and do something daft. It seems silly that the referee would be the one to hold him back when showing aggression.
Ultimately Celtic failed against Rangers because of an inability to take chances despite being on top for large portions.
Some will argue Bitton shouldn’t have been given his marching orders. It was still a rash move to take out his opponent.
Bobby Madden isn’t the most popular of people with Celtic right now, and perhaps rightly so, but we can’t use him as an excuse for our own problems.
In other news, Celtic may have missed out on a winger target.
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