‘Clever’: John Hartson shares an interesting view on Celtic’s player’s role in disallowed Rangers goal

Mon 4 September 2023 17:15, UK

Celtic’s win against Rangers has created an incredible amount of headlines over the past 24 hours.

From people waxing lyrical about Kyogo Furuhashi’s goal to the debate on whether or not Cyriel Dessers fouled Gustaf Lagerbielke, this game is going to be talked about for weeks by the pundits and fans of both sides.

But it was former Celtic striker, John Hartson‘s view on the disallowed Rangers goal that may be of interest to the Hoops fans.

Hartson was speaking post-match about the foul on Gustaf Lagerbielke when he gave this interesting assessment of the whole incident.

Hartson said [], “We [Hartson and Barry Ferguson] both agreed in the studio that it should’ve been a goal. We felt that Lagerbielke kicked the back of Dessers’ calf.

“Lagerbielke was clever. He played with the referee, he went down, he bought the foul if you like.

“But for me, if that goal goes in, it’s a different story.”

That’s quite an opinion by Hartson. There is nothing to suggest in the footage that Lagerbielke tried to win a foul.

Yes, he was lax on the ball and got caught out by the quick movement of Dessers, but is there enough in it to suggest that the Celtic defender ‘bought’ the freekick?

The general consensus of opinion is that Lagerbielke was fouled. The 23-year-old defender’s left foot was caught by the Rangers forward and VAR said that he was impeded. That was certainly the view of James McFadden and Neil Lennon.

Hartson’s call on this may well be questioned but he, like everyone else, is allowed an opinion on the incident. There may not be many Celtic fans that will agree with it though.

In other news, ‘Tremendous’: Callum McGregor hails 25-year-old Celtic player’s Ibrox performance

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‘Clever’: John Hartson shares an interesting view on Celtic’s player’s role in disallowed Rangers goal