PHILIPPE Clement tonight described the decision not to award Rangers a penalty for a Liam Scales foul on Vaclav Cerny as “really weird” following the Ibrox club’s painful Premier Sports Cup final shoot-out defeat to their Parkhead rivals at Hampden.
Referee John Beaton awarded the defending champions a free-kick after centre-half Scales pulled winger Cerny on the edge of his penalty box in the second half of the all Glasgow encounter.
But video replays later showed that Cerny’s foot had touched the line while he was being held – and former match official Bobby Madden promptly took to social media to state it was a spot kick even though the offence had started outside of the area.
Clement could understand why Beaton had failed to award a spot kick – but he was perplexed about why VAR official Alan Muir over at Clydesdale House had not urged his colleague to look back at the incident on his pitchside monitor.
“Football can be amazing great and amazing fun,” said Clement whose team lost the shoot-out 5-4 after the game had finished 3-3 after 120 minutes. “But it can be very cruel. This was a really cruel one.
“I think my team deserved more today after creating more chances than the opponent. Coming back in a good way and losing with penalties at the end, it stays a casino game at that moment.
“But also, I don't know if you saw the images back, but my phone is overloaded with the penalty situation with Cerny. I get hundreds of messages now about that. That's also a really decisive moment in the game.
“Of course, he [Beaton] cannot see that moment. But he didn't get the communication from the VAR to come to watch the screen, which for me is a really weird situation. At least there's no look about that kind of situation in this kind of game, about the situation that the referee can make a decision in that way.
“I didn't see it at the time because although I still have quite good eyes I cannot see that much distance if the foot is outside or inside or on the line. So, no, but my phone is full of messages from everybody.
“Those are things I cannot control. So maybe it's also a very important moment to dig into that, about why there's no communication in that moment about a big decision like that, because it's clear for everybody it's a game-decisive decision.”
Clement added: “I would not like to be here to speak about the penalty because I want to speak about the team, what they did today, how brave they were after a big European night on Thursday, giving a lot against Tottenham.
“Two days less recovery and showing the physical level they showed today. Also the team spirit, the mentality, but also good football. I think it was a really good game for Scottish football, this final, from both sides.
“Everybody only can be happy about that, but of course you want to win that trophy. We had to do then a lot of things extra to get it to our side. But if you don't get a penalty like that . . .”
However, Clement, who has now lost five and drawn one of the six games his Rangers side has played against Celtic, admitted that his team should have capitalised on a four against one overlap early in the second half when they were 1-0 ahead.
“It's a massive moment,” he said. “That's a really disappointing one, that we made the wrong choice there because on the left side we had two players free.
“If Hamza [Igamane] slows down his tempo and then gives this ball then it's impossible to defend. So, yeah, that's also for sure a crucial point in the game. But I think we grabbed a lot of moments in this game.
“Of course, we're going to show that one also to the team to make it better for the future. But I'm really proud about how many moments the team grabbed and how they played with and without the ball. Today, with all this energy, also after the changes, everybody's stepping in, doing the job.
“So we're getting better and better and that's our ambition now. It's a big blow not to have this trophy, clearly. But it's now important that it doesn't stop the hunger and desire that's in the squad to become better and better because we're going to work on that.”
Meanwhile, Clement stressed that he was proud of Rangers left-back Ridvan Yilmaz, who had his penalty saved in the shoot-out, for being brave enough to step up and take a spot kick.
“I spoke already with him,” he said. “There are a lot of big names in football who are big stars in world football, who missed penalties or even didn't put the ball on target. So he took his responsibility.
“We've been practising the penalties all season. He did really well in that way, in the trainings. So it's part of football and I'm proud of guys who take responsibility in those moments. So that's part of being a football player.”
