IT WAS ANOTHER crazy night in Glasgow. Celtic ultimately won their Scottish Cup fifth round replay with bitter rivals Rangers thanks to a Mark Wilson strike.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
In his second Old Firm derby, perennial bad boy El Hadji Diouf was at the centre of the action all night. He started the game on the end of this tackle from Daniel Majstorovic, which went unpunished:
The Senegal striker than became embroiled in – and was booked for – a verbal spat with Bhoys boss Neil Lennon:
Steven Whittaker was the first Rangers player to be sent off when he was shown a second yellow card in the 36th minute. And after both Lennon and Rangers’ manager-in-waiting Ally McCoist were warned on the touchline, the players bookended the goalless, but incident-packed half with another arguement in the tunnel:
But it was Celtic who at last broke the deadlock; Mark Wilson struck three minutes after the break, despite an impressive initial clearance on the line from Sasa Papac:
Deep in injury-time Madjid Bougherra was dismissed for a second booking after a wild sliding tackle. He then, amazingly, attempted to tuck the card back in the pocket of referee Calum Murray:
In chaotic scenes after the final whistle, Lennon and Ally McCoist squared up to each other before El-Hadji Diouf was given a second yellow for dissent.
Rangers manager Walter Smith, who will be succeeded by McCoist at the end of the season, said: “These are things that happen in the games. I don’t know what happened [between McCoist and Lennon.] I go up the tunnel and keep myself away from those things.”
The win earns Celtic a leader a quarterfinal against Inverness. Football, eh? Bloody hell.