Rangers showed what they are all about in last weekend’s Premier Sports Cup Final vs Celtic.
Regardless of result, Philippe Clement‘s troops put their best foot forward and pushed their rivals all the way in a 3-3 draw that was ultimately lost in the cruelest way on penalties.
The action was enthralling, but the fallout has been predictable.
Rangers were denied a clear penalty for a Liam Scales foul on Vaclav Cerny and it was there for all to see.
Since then we’ve had Willie Collum come out and admit it was a mistake on the VAR Review show while the referee chief slaughtered the officials for an “unacceptable” decision.
Fans were furious with the club’s weak statement on the issue following the controversy and the so-called transparency from the Scottish FA after chief executive Patrick Stewart contacted them for clarity.
Ian Maxwell even chimed in and rubbished bias talk before he was blasted for dismissing it as human error.
But now there has arguably been an even worse take on the moment as well as the final from a Celtic player.
Arne Engels made a silly claim about Celtic winning the cup final
Arne Engels has this weekend – before his side’s goalless draw with Dundee United, that is – claimed his side would still have won the Premier Sports Cup even if Gers had been given the spot-kick they deserved.
The Belgian clearly did not look at the stats from the game when he said: “I’m not aware of everything that’s been said but last Sunday we showed that we’re a really good team who can perform in the big games.
“We deserved to win it and that’s why we were on the podium. That’s all that matters. If Rangers had got a penalty and scored, we could still have come back and won the game, 100 percent. We’ve already shown a few times that we can come back.
“We won the cup, which is the most important thing. I don’t want to talk about anything else. We’ve shown that we have such a strong squad who performs on the big occasions.”
Rangers had the momentum in the final when the ‘penalty’ shout was ignored
Rangers dominated the game according to the stats and should have scored a second with the score still at 1-0 when Hamza Igamane had a four on one advantage but picked the wrong option.
With momentum on their side, had the penalty been given it could easily have been scored which would have made life very difficult for Celtic and their substitute, Engels.
The call from the technology truck changed the entire complexion of the game.
Yet despite Gers’ disappointment last weekend, they roared back with three points vs Dundee yesterday.
The wronged man, Cerny, was the match-winner.
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