Fans clashed on the Ibrox pitch after Celtic knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup on penalties. The visitors progressed to the semi-finals despite failing to register a single shot on target in 120 minutes of action.
Celtic secured a 4-2 shootout victory after the goalless draw before dozens of their fans invaded the pitch. That sparked an invasion from hundreds of Rangers supporters and missiles were thrown as police and stewards moved to form a barrier.
Flares were thrown and some minor skirmishes appeared to take place before order was restored and the 7,500 Celtic fans were left to celebrate alone.
The Rangers captain, James Tavernier, hit the bar with the first penalty before his fellow substitute Djeidi Gassama blazed over, with Tomas Cvancara then sealing the victory and prompting the chaos.
The Celtic striker Daizen Maeda had a goal disallowed for offside following a video assistant referee review, but Martin O’Neill’s side otherwise never threatened. Statistics showed that Rangers managed 24 shots and they also had a goal wiped out by VAR following an obvious handball by Emmanuel Fernandez. But the hosts struggled to seriously test Viljami Sinisalo and were denied on a number of occasions by some penalty-box blocks.
Celtic were missing their captain, Callum McGregor, and Kieran Tierney after injuries picked up in the midweek win at Aberdeen. Luke McCowan came into central midfield, while Liam Scales moved to left-back as Auston Trusty came in amid a three-match league suspension. Maeda started through the middle. There was also a notable omission in the Rangers team as John Souttar was dropped to the bench along with Tochi Chukwuani.
The hosts forced the early pressure and there was flashpoint when Trusty blocked Youssef Chermiti’s strike with an arm. But it was tucked into his body and video assistant, Andrew Dallas, did not summon the referee, Don Robertson, to the monitor.
Rangers were well on top in the opening quarter but that was the only real scare Celtic had and the visitors grew into the game. The away fans were celebrating 10 minutes from half-time when Maeda netted with a diving header but Scales was ultimately ruled offside by VAR after heading on McCowan’s cross.
Dujon Sterling and Chermiti looped efforts over before the break and Rangers spent most of the second period in the Celtic half. Sinisalo stood up well to the aerial pressure and came off his line quickly to foil Chermiti following a mistake from Benjamin Arthur. The visitors needed some last-ditch blocks from Trusty and Sebastian Tounekti in particular to keep the scores blank.
Rangers’ physical advantage was forcing Celtic back and there was little respite for the visitors, who ended the 90 minutes with an all-new front three of Joel Mvuka, Cvancara and James Forrest.
The pattern continued into extra time. Dane Murray’s block denied Chermiti and Rangers then had a goal disallowed by VAR after the ball went into the net off the hand of Fernandez following a corner.
Chermiti volleyed wide from a good chance and Sinisalo saved from Nedim Bajrami as the action continued to flow one way. Rangers won the toss for the spot-kicks but could not take advantage in front of the Copland Road Stand.
