Celtic and Scotland legend, Kenny Dalglish has given his thoughts on yesterday’s refereeing performance from Bobby Madden in Celtic’s 1-0 loss to Rangers.
As quoted by the Glasgow Times, Dalglish has hailed Madden for his performance and though he handled the game ‘very well’.
“Bobby Madden has dominated much of the post-match conversation and debate over his red card for Nir Bitton.
“Well, I believe the referee called it absolutely correctly.
“My view on it is based on three factors:
“1 – Where the foul took place.
“2 – The manner in which he fouled Alfredo Morelos, namely wrapping his arms around the Colombian. There was no attempt to play the ball.
“3 – Morelos would have been inside the area with one touch and able to get a shot in on goal.
“Yes, you can argue that Kris Ajer was going to cover the ground and get across. That’s the point Neil Lennon made in his interviews after the game.
“But there still wasn’t enough evidence there to suggest that the referee got it wrong.
“But there was enough there that made it difficult for Madden not to send off the Celtic defender.
“I’m not saying that Morelos would have scored. However, that’s not the point. The fact is he was denied the chance of a goal-scoring opportunity.
“Overall, I think the referee handled the game very well.”
Madden took the decision in the game to send Celtic defender Nir Bitton off in the 62 minutes at a time that Neil Lennon’s side was on top in the game.
The Israeli defender was caught out by Alfredo Morelos who spun in behind and Bitton tugged him down.
Some, including Lennon himself, complained that this was the wrong decision but in my opinion, Madden got this spot on. This was an act of stupidity from Bitton who should never have been caught out in that position.
The game completely changed at that point, with the Celts on top now going a man down but that wasn’t due to Bobby Madden, that was just due to once again our own individual errors costing us in games.
