Scottish Premiership referee Bobby Madden has quite brilliantly responded to Celtic fans calling him out for helping Rangers forward Alfredo Morelos avoid a red card on Saturday.
The situation was as effervescent as ever in the revered Old Firm derby when eternal Glasgow rivals Rangers met Celtic in a Scottish Premiership fixture.
When things got heated up as they usually do in an Old Firm derby, Madden held back an enraging Alfredo Morelos to prevent him from adding to the chaos.
The gesture was interpreted as bias towards Rangers by the Celtic faithful, as Morelos’ sending off would mean both teams reduced to ten men.
Madden responded to the criticism by posting a collage on Instagram, compiling all the previous instances where he has held back players’ from different teams before, to maintain order in the game.
The response is a fitting one from the experienced referee now in his 11th season of refereeing in the Premiership, and essentially clears the allegations of bias put against his name by Celtic fans.
Rangers won the encounter thanks to a Callum McGregor own goal in the 70th minute, and a red card awarded to Nir Bitton which got Celtic down to ten men.
Steven Gerrard’s side went a whopping 19 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table as Neil Lennon’s Celtic team failed to capitalise on a good first half, getting his position as Celtic manager under even more scrutiny than before.
Even though Celtic do have three games in hand, it looks more and more likely that Rangers will win the Scottish Premiership for the first time since the 2010/2011 season.
