The Celtic vs Rangers Glasgow Derby comes to the fore once again almost one week after the fateful result saw Wilfried Nancy make his Parkhead exit.
Celtic lost to Rangers after Nancy looked like he had managed to get a tune out of his players in the first-half.
The Hoops should have been out of sight after Celtic battered Rangers in a first 45 minutes that only had one goal and one real moment of controversy.
Should Rangers have had a red card for an elbow on Arne Engels? Let us know in the comments.
That controversy was Rangers’ Emmanuel Fernandez’s elbow on Celtic’s Arne Engels where many Hoops fans thought the Ibrox player should have seen red.
Des Roache’s ‘first viewing’ on Celtic elbow ‘looked very, very dangerous’
Former SFA referee Des Roache was asked his thoughts on the challenge and admitted that when he first saw the elbow on Engels, he thought the Rangers player could have been in trouble.
Roache told The Ref’s View, “I said that when on first viewing it looked a very, very dangerous challenge, but I straight away mitigated it with however he’s been pulled back by Arne Engles and it was a reaction because the player’s off balance.
“We’ve seen instances where guys have been done for throwing elbows. I don’t think it was a thrown elbow. I think it was a balance issue that just looked untidy and that’s all it is. “
“I would like to think that the explanation that we’ve given at the time, the explanation that the media have given at the time, and also the explanation the media didn’t give at the time, because they never really gave it the airtime that it deserved.”
Why Rangers elbow on Arne Engels was Celtic star’s fault
So if all it was was a ‘balance issue’ for Fernandez, why did Engels get booked for it?
Roache continues, “But it was a question that was asked. It was a question that we had to respond to and that was it. Yes, we had to look.
“But here’s the reasons why it wasn’t given. It was a foul against the Celtic player for grabbing Manny Fernandez off balance.
“And Fernandez, all he’s trying to do is hold his ground and unfortunately it’s a contact sport and if you’re pulling in close proximity, these things happen.”
Engels was penalised for the challenge and that infuriated Celtic supporters.
With Dundee United to look forward to on Saturday, Celtic fans will be hoping to banish the ghosts of the Glasgow Derby defeat with a comprehensive Celtic Park win against the Taysiders.
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