Celtic midfielder Ryan Christie has been handed a charge from the scarcely seen Compliance Officer for assaulting Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos in Sunday’s Old Firm.
The Scotland international grabbed the Colombian striker’s genitals but referee Kevin Clancy failed to send the player off despite Christie already being on a yellow card.
With Celtic midfielder Christie set to go in for surgery – apparently because of Alfredo Morelos – he may well miss both games through injury should the charge be upheld.
The Compliance Officer has failed to wade into several high-profile incidents this season and it is very interesting they’ve chosen to highlight this one.
The nuclear fall-out from Sunday’s Old Firm has sent a shockwave through the game here with several calls for Rangers players to be banned.
Namely, Alfredo Morelos who has been the subject of disgraceful columns and news stories about his gesture leaving the field.
Celtic cheerleader Chris Sutton claimed that the gesture was “violent” and demanded the Colombian gets a considerable ban [Daily Record].
It’s worth noting that Rangers themselves have refuted these claims saying the Morelos hand movement is “a gesture used commonly throughout South America to indicate quite simply that something – in this case, the match – is finished” [Rangers].
Incredibly, the Scottish Sun then ran a story about the striker needing psychological help – using a sports psychologist who formerly worked for Celtic [Scottish Sun].
So whilst Ryan Christie deserves to be cited by the Compliance Officer for his grabbing Rangers’ Alfredo Morelos by the genitals, it does raise a few eyebrows.
Christie may well be recovering from surgery when the ban is spent, and there is fervent desperation to see Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent, who celebrated with finger guns, banned.
As a result, the next move of the much-maligned retrospective official and the SFA will be watched very closely by Rangers fans.
