Rangers were awarded their 12th penalty in 24 league games this afternoon. The incident occurred in the first half, when Alfredo Morelos was tripped in the box. An accident in the eyes of most fans and pundits, there is confusion as to whether a red card should have been given or not.
MORE: Video: Aberdeen forward escapes red card after this horror challenge on Rangers full back
Due to the recent rule changes, a player cannot be sent off if he concedes a penalty to deny a goalscoring opportunity, if he makes an attempt to play the ball. The officials could argue that the defender wasn’t trying to play the ball in this instance, but he is also clearly not attempting to bring the man down either. It was, instead a tangling of legs.
Scottish football pundit, Michael Stewart has summarised his views on the situation via Twitter:
The Celtic player picking up a positive result for COVID is yet another disaster for the club. The trip to Dubai was ill advised and the pictures from the trip just made matters worse, now this really does heap yet more pressure on the club. So many questions to answer.
— Michael Stewart (@mstewart_23) January 10, 2021
You can view the penalty miss, before the footage of the foul is shown in the latter half of the video.
?? Rangers are ahead but James Tavernier won’t want to watch his earlier penalty miss back.
Aberdeen, down to 10-men after Ryan Hedges was sent off, have it all to do now!
? Watch now on Sky Sports Football or follow here: https://t.co/A0anQkLLi7 pic.twitter.com/sga3qpd6gP
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 10, 2021