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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Robbie Hanratty

Bobby Madden is 'embarrassing himself' blast pundits as Celtic vs Rangers ref is branded 'ridiculous'

Pundits lined up to slaughter Bobby Madden's performance at Hampden on Sunday.

Madden was tasked with officiating the Scottish Cup semi final clash between Celtic and Rangers and the referee’s display didn’t go down well in some quarters.

The 43-year old was taking charge of his ninth derby between the Glasgow giants and was involved in a series of controversial on-field decisions.

From allowing John Lundstram several fouls before booking him to awarding Celtic a 'soft' free kick in the build-up to Greg Taylor's opener, Madden's name has been on the lips of many.

Chris Sutton was first to slam the official and ripped into him after Lundstram brought down Callum McGregor.

Speaking on Premier Sports, the Celtic legend said: "Bobby Madden is just embarrassing himself."

Later, Sutton had another pop on the free-kick that was awarded which led to Taylor’s goal.

The Record Sport columnist blasted: "He’s had a shocker all afternoon."

Michael Stewart also waded in, saying: "Bobby Madden has had an absolute shocker. Some of the decisions out there were ridiculous."

Sutton wasn’t finished there, though. After a free-kick was awarded to Rangers deep into extra time, Sutton added: "That’s amazing from Bobby."

It wasn't just the Premier Sports commentary team that were concerned at the decisions Madden made.

The whistler's antics even unified both sets of supporters online.

Celtic podcast Celts Are Here tweeted, "Bobby Madden has been a disgrace in this first half. Outrageously bad."

While another wrote, "Note for Bobby Madden - it's not your job to keep players on the pitch, it's your job to enforce the laws of the game and protect players safety by enforcing said laws of the game."

A Rangers fan agreed saying the man in the middle shouldn't be refereeing a game of this magnitude.

He tweeted: "Bobby Madden shouldn’t be near games of this level. Howling for both sides."

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