STEVEN Gerrard last night revealed he had no issues with Alfredo Morelos’s injury-time red card against Celtic – but claimed Christopher Jullien should have been ordered off for a foul on the Rangers striker just before that.
Morelos received his marching orders for the second time in three games when he was shown a second yellow card by referee Kevin Clancy for diving in the Parkhead club’s area.
Gerrard, who has worked hard to improve the temperamental Colombian’s ill-discipline this season, conceded the forward deserved to be punished by the match official.
But the Liverpool and England great suggested the player, who has scored 28 goals in the 2019/20 campaign, may have been upset that Jullien stayed on the park after a challenge on him late on.
“We’ve got no complaints on it,” he said. “I’ve got time to reset the kid. He was handful for the whole game. He does some incredible stuff I think his emotions got the better of him at the end of the game.
“I think that frustration might have come from the fact that Jullien didn’t get a straight red moments before because it’s a clear foul on the edge of the box. The officials have missed that, but we’ve no complaints on what went on.”
Celtic won a penalty, which Allan McGregor saved, when Rangers defender Nikola Katic tugged Julien’s shirt at a corner and then scored a goal after a Callum McGregor shot struck the arm of Odsonne Edouard in the first-half.
However, Gerrard stressed he had no issues with Clancy’s handling of the game and was only proud of how his players responded to the home team’s controversial equaliser in the second-half.
“We’ve got no complaints about the penalty decision,” he said. “We thought we had a shout for handball for the Celtic goal. It’s up for debate, but we’ve no complaints on that.
“The players could easily have felt sorry for themselves and rolled over at a place like this where they’ve got such a good home record. We showed character. Across the board, they all stood up and were men about it.
“For the first 35 minutes, there was only one team out there. We completely dominated the game and the penalty changed the momentum a bit.
“So we reset at half time and went out with the same attitude as we did in the first half and again we dominated large periods of the game.
“But all the referee’s decisions, in terms of what went against us today, we’ve got no complaints. What I will say is there was a blatant red card from Jullien on Alfredo.”
Gerrard praised match winner Katic, the 23-year-old Croatian centre half, for how he performed after giving away the spot kick.
“The kid is a winner and a warrior,” he said. “We know what he gives. Anyone his age, after giving the penalty away, might have gone into their shell. It might have affected their performance.
“But if you knock Niko Katic down, he’s gonna get back up and come again. That’s the man, that’s the player.”
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