As if the ugliness of the 120 minutes wasn’t enough – the grisly battle, the hair-on-fire panic, the abysmal lack of anything resembling coherence or even competence – there was the disgrace of the post-match.
Celtic had made it through to the Scottish Cup semi-finals after one shot on goal and no shot on target.
They had survived their way through the day despite their own awful shortcomings, winning on penalties because Rangers were an abomination in reply.
On a day of blocks, misplaced passes, crosses flying out of play, free-kicks wasted, aerial duels, hoofball, head tennis, punts downfield, unending fouls and a chronic lack of accuracy, the last act was Tomas Cvancara beating Jack Butland.
Or, at least, we hoped it was the last act.
It wasn’t, of course. The finale to the day involved a pitch invasion from many, many Celtic supporters at the Broomloan Road end. There were 7,500 of them at Ibrox. A return to the way things were pre-2018. Mistake. Big, big mistake.
Initially, the Rangers fans in the Copland Stand reacted, a tiny number threatening to pile on to the pitch and head into the fray. They were shoved back in quick order.
More Celtic people streamed on, dancing and waving and cajoling. Red rags to Rangers’ bulls. Celtic staff beseeched them to clear off but their pleas were ignored.
Ugly scenes after Celtic beat Rangers on penalties to reach Scottish Cup semis
The Rangers dam burst. On they came from the Copland Road stand in big numbers. A menacing posse – many wearing masks – made a beeline for Celtic staff and players.
One of the visiting backroom team was confronted – we can’t say yet how violent that was – but the fan was jumped on by stewards and police led away.
Martin O’Neill said later that the staff member was trying to prevent an incident happening -“it’s why the person on the field was wrestled to the ground,” said the Celtic manager. It was troubling, to put it mildly.
Next, another Rangers fan – or fans – squared up to Julian Araujo, the Celtic full-back. What was the extent of the contact? We’ll have to revert to any footage that emerges, but it was shocking.
O’Neill led Araujo away, a look of deep concern on his face.
For a second, the threat of Rangers fans meeting Celtic fans was a real possibility. Mercifully, it was averted.
Missiles flew, though. Certainly, there was a flare thrown from Rangers to Celtic. That was the first one. Other objects came back the other way.
Watching the chaos you had to wonder about the logic of extending the numbers of away supporters, the obvious dangers, the unwise faith being placed in sections of these fans behaving themselves.
Back to the drawing board on that one, you suspect.
The Scottish FA is investigating, as it needs to. Neither club said anything officially in the immediate aftermath.
When they’re of a mind to talk, they might want to address rumours of a bust-up between players in the tunnel. Cvancara had blood on his jersey. It would be helpful to know how it got there.
Be the first to comment