Ex-FIFA official predicts if Rangers v Celtic will be replayed amid controversy

Rangers are unlikely to get far if they ask to Scottish FA for the Scottish League Cup final with Celtic to be replayed.

The Gers were beaten on penalties at Hampden Park on Sunday (15 December) in a game mired by an “inexplicable” error made by the officials.

Indeed, head of refereeing Willie Collum has now come out and accepted Rangers should have been awarded a penalty for a pull on the shirt of Vaclav Cerny.

A precedent was set in Belgium earlier this year when a game between Anderlecht and Genk was replayed in full after an error made by VAR.

Former FIFA official Hackett says Rangers could reach out to the SFA to see if that is possible, but expects the governing body will hide behind a certain law.

Speaking exclusively to Ibrox News, he said: “I do think as a test case for the Scottish FA and the Premier League, Rangers should challenge and question procedures and processes to determine if new criteria and action for such situations in the future need to be applied.

“There is of course a reluctance to replay games, which I fully understand. In the past you might recall in an FA Cup game between Arsenal v Sheffield Utd. At the restart after an injury, Arsenal went on the attack and scored. Later they apologised and promoted the idea that the game should be replayed.

“The Scottish FA may decide to hide behind Law 5, which states that the decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final.

“The decisions of the referee, and all other match officials, must always be respected. This is why the Scottish FA will be very reluctant to give the go ahead for the game to be replayed.”

Rangers owed more than an apology after Celtic VAR controversy

Collum accepting his team got things wrong is better than him brushing the matter under the carpet, of course.

But in many ways it just rubs salt into the wounds, which are still very much fresh even four days on from the cup final.

The fact of the matter is, Rangers should have been awarded a penalty at a crucial moment in the contest at Hampden Park.

Not only were they not awarded a spot-kick, VAR did not even feel the need to ask referee John Beaton to review the incident.

It is easy enough for those from the outside looking in to call this sour grapes, but Rangers were robbed and that is simply not good enough.

The fallout from this one will rumble on for a while longer yet.

In other Rangers news, the club’s stance on Hamza Igamane has been shared amid interest from an English side.

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