RANGERS captain Nicolas Raskin tonight branded Don Robertson’s decision not to give Callum McGregor a second booking at Ibrox “weird” and claimed the referee had been reluctant to send the Celtic captain off.
Raskin was yellow carded in added on time at the end of the first half in the William Hill Premiership match in Govan after squaring up to his opposite number following a Paulo Bernardo corner.
However, the Belgian midfielder was astonished that McGregor, who had earlier had his name taken by the match official, did not receive the same punishment and remonstrated with Robertson before heading down the tunnel.
He said: “I just didn’t understand what was happening. McGregor and I had contact, you know? I think the referee wanted to book us both, but then he looked at McGregor and remembered he’d booked him, so just booked me.
“It was a bit unfair, because if you book me you have to book him. It’s the same thing by both of us. It was just a bit weird.
“I was calm, I was just explaining to the ref that it was unfair, that he had to book us both. The ref explained that he didn’t really see it, but you either booked both or no one.”
Raskin, who donned the skipper’s armband in the absence of the injured James Tavernier, stressed that he was proud of the Rangers performance and admitted they have to continue to perform at the same high level in the coming months.
“I’m very proud,” he said. “The fans deserved a performance like that, we deserved a performance like that. I know the last two games weren’t great (Rangers lost to St Mirren and drew with Motherwell away last week), we all know that, so we all enjoyed this one so much.
“We’d looked good in training, we got confidence from that and we knew Thursday night was always a good night for us, so we just came in feeling good.
“Every game is not played before we play, so we just go and give everything. We also knew we had been so close to winning the cup final, so we just had the confidence to go for it.”
Raskin continued: “We need to understand that those games compared to this one are not the same. Here, you play a team where there is a lot of space, where you can counter-attack. Even when you have the ball, there is space.
“But when you play Motherwell or other teams like that, you face teams who defend a lot and give you no space. So there’s a big difference between those games and playing Celtic or a European game.
“Now, it’s about us finding the small details that make us good in both kinds of game. We know where we want to be and we’re working hard as a team and as a club to get there. When I see and hear the fans out there, it was so loud, it just feels amazing playing here.
“At the end of the day it’s only three points and we have to repeat it in three days and then again after that. But this has been a really special day for me.
"My father Thierry hadn’t been in the stadium for a long time. I think this was only his second time, so it was great that he was here. I was really proud. The game was perfect, we all enjoyed it so much. It’s a day I’ll remember my whole life.”
