Celtic cup shootout victory over Rangers descends into fan chaos at Ibrox
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill described his view of a fracas involving a supporter and member of his backroom staff after a mass pitch invasion marred his team’s Scottish Gas Scottish Cup win at Ibrox.
The Scottish Football Association has launched an investigation after Celtic and Rangers fans clashed following the visitors’ shoot-out triumph after a stalemate.
Police officers apprehended a man after Celtic players, including Tomas Cvancara, ran to the scene amid an incident involving a Celtic member of staff.
Cvancara, who scored the winning penalty in the 4-2 shoot-out victory, was later interviewed on Premier Sports with blood stains on his strip.
Celtic right-back Julian Araujo was pushed by a Rangers supporter after hundreds of home fans ran on to the pitch towards the Broomloan Road stand after some of the 7,500 visiting fans invaded the pitch following Cvancara’s winning penalty at the opposite end.
Asked about the altercation between a spectator and one of his staff, O’Neill said: “As we were making our way back, I think there was some sort of fracas; somebody tried to get on the field. I don’t know, all I saw was there was a bit of a scrum down at the bottom.
“And as you say, maybe it does taint proceedings, but I think there’s an element of self-protection in that one. So if that’s the case, please, I’m making judgments here on things that I only half saw.”
O’Neill added: “The security men, in fairness to them, were wanting to get people off. But there is a natural euphoria about winning a game and about fans joining in. If this has gone too far, that would be disappointing.”
When asked if he had spoken to the players about the incidents, O’Neill said: “I just said well done to the team and I went into my own little room to cool down myself. My heart’s beating at a rate that a 74-year-old’s shouldn’t be doing.”
Police and stewards formed a barrier between both sets of fans after Rangers supporters, many of them coming from the section hosting the Union Bears ultras, charged towards the away end. A flare was thrown towards the Broomloan Road Stand and it continued to be thrown around.
Order was soon restored and the 7,500 Celtic fans were left to celebrate.
The SFA condemned the “behaviour from supporters entering the field of play” and added: “An investigation will be carried out immediately in line with the Judicial Panel Protocol.”
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl said of the trouble: “I was not on the pitch in this moment. I didn’t see it until now. I heard just that there was something on the pitch.
“I think we all know the emotional situation after a game. Nobody likes to see this. I think it was a great atmosphere, 120 minutes. I think it should be like this. All the other things should not be in the stadium or around football.”
Former Rangers midfielder Charlie Adam described the scenes as a “disgrace”.
He said on talkSPORT: “It’s a sad day for Scottish football. For the Old Firm that we talk about being our leadership teams and (what) they represent, it’s an embarrassment for our game.
“These two clubs have let us down as a nation. Both football clubs have to look at themselves because they are the standard-bearers for us as football clubs and they have, both (sets of) supporters have let themselves down.”
On the game, O'Neill said: "It was a great, great win for us. We were under pressure during the course of the game. As you would expect, Rangers are very strong. They've had the full week to go at it.
"We've had to travel to Aberdeen, it was our fourth away game in 10 days. It was a fantastic effort by the players. Really, really fantastic.
"The number of blocks that we got in, the number of last-ditch challenges that we made in the game, just to stay in the tie, it was really amazing."
Celtic progressed despite missing both Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney through injuries which flared up in the midweek win over Aberdeen..
O'Neill felt it was a big achievement to win after losing two key players. McGregor missed a spell of action with a heel injury two years ago and could need to be managed again.
"Callum was feeling it in Aberdeen," he said. "The medical team were saying it's something that was here last year, maybe come back, and maybe missed a few games. So the best thing to do was just to take him out of it.
"Kieran Tierney was just not right to start. He might have been able to have come on but he might have been forced to go on after five minutes in the match and then he wouldn't have lasted.
"So for us to miss two big players like that there and still come through, it was brilliant."
O'Neill also praised Sinisalo, saying: "I just asked him, could he command the six-yard box? And he did that wonderfully well."
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl dismissed questions about the mentality of his side, who lost a two-goal lead to draw with Celtic seven days earlier.
Rohl said: "I see 120 minutes, just one team who deserve to win. It's not about mentality. (It's about) the final details because, when you don't have the mentality or personality, then you will have not reacted like we did.
"There's no question mark when I see my group, what they did during the week, how we lift each other, how we prepared it, how focused we are, what we can do, and you deliver such a performance in 120 minutes.
"Then in football, you need a little bit of luck on your side to score in the right moments.
"I'm convinced if you work so hard and you improve so massively, this momentum will come back and then let's see where we are in the next couple of weeks."
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