Celtic striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo’s sending off in France had Ryan Christie feeling sorry for the big striker.
The Ivorian was done by some shocking playacting from Rennes goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. You can view the incident for yourself below, as Bayo was unjustly red-carded last week.
It was a pretty scandalous incident that Celtic can’t appeal. Bayo was sent off for two yellow cards, and now finds himself suspended for Cluj’s visit to Parkhead next Thursday.
Christie, however, this week told the Celtic View (Volume 55, Issue 12, Page 14) that the Hoops players felt like they were walking on eggshells with Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez.
“It was all very strange. We felt in the last 10 minutes that any tackle we put in was going to result in a red card because we seemed to get a lot more bookings than Rennes.
“Especially on the European stage, referees need to be aware there are going to be loud atmospheres and kind of stick to their decisions. I felt sorry for Bayo because he’s worked hard to get us up the park and has been very softly sent off.
“Throughout the whole match there was an equal amount of fouls for both sides. We got booked a ridiculous amount to the point we were scared to make a tackle in the last 10 minutes. Hopefully, that atmosphere works the opposite when we have games at Celtic Park.”
Celtic simply being punished for not being good cheats
This seems to be the way of it in Europe now. If you’re a good actor you get more decisions in your favour. There is nowhere near enough clamping down on some of the playacting around Europe these days.
Christie talks about the red card comparison between Rennes and Celtic. At the end of the game, Celtic had seen five yellow cards including Bayo’s two. Scott Brown, Christie himself, and Odsonne Edouard all went into the book. For Rennes, only Raphinha and Hamari Traore saw yellow.
It seems to be that if you want to be successful in Europe, learning the dark arts is a necessity. Celtic, however, isn’t a club that behaves in such fashion on the park. We don’t look to get players sent off, that much is certain.
Fortunately, Bayo has quickly shrugged off the Rennes red card. He fired home a fine header against Partick Thistle in Wednesday night’s Betfred Cup success at Parkhead. Hopefully, it will prove to be the start of a special period for him at the club.
But Celtic will need to be wary of dodgy refereeing decisions throughout the group. The way Mendy got straight up after the Bayo incident and tried to gee his team up was flat out embarrassing. Martinez should’ve cautioned him for that alone.
We’ll continue to play the good-boy role as always. Hopefully, come the end of the group, our quality on the field will be enough to see us through.
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