Sign up now ><\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\nThat sparked an incursion from hundreds of Rangers fans, who attempted to attack their Celtic rivals.<\/p>\n
Fans threw missiles and fireworks in ugly clashes before trading insults after police and stewards finally formed a barrier across the pitch.<\/p>\n
Police apprehended a man after Celtic players, including Tomas Cvancara, ran to the scene amid an incident involving a Celtic member of staff, who appeared to be confronted by a Rangers supporter.<\/p>\n
Cvancara was later interviewed on television with blood stains on his strip, while Celtic right-back Julian Araujo was pushed by a Rangers fan.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn investigation will be carried out immediately in line with the Judicial Panel Protocol,\u201d the SFA said as they condemned the \u201cbehaviour from supporters entering the field of play\u201d.<\/p>\n
Police Scotland Chief Superintendent Kate Stephen said the rioting was \u201cshameful\u201d and \u201cmust be condemned by everyone involved in football and wider society\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cA number of arrests have already been made. Officers and stewards were faced with extreme hostility and violence over a sustained period, with many individuals having armed themselves with items clearly intended to cause harm.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers and members of the public have been injured in this despicable display and I want to express my thanks to all officers and staff deployed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>Celtic fans invade the pitch following the penalty shootout. Steve Welsh\/PA via AP<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/amp-img>An injured steward is carried from the pitch. Steve Welsh\/PA via AP<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/amp-img>Police officer and stewards force fans back after they invaded the pitch. Steve Welsh\/PA via AP<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/amp-img>An injured man receives medical attention on the pitch. Photo by Steve Welsh\/PA Images via Getty Images<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSpeaking live on TV, Premier Sports commentator Rory Hamilton described the shock incident, saying: \u201cOne of the Celtic coaching staff has been attacked by an individual.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an ugly, ugly end to what has been a superb game of football. There is absolutely no need. This is lunacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ugly scenes came in the first Old Firm derby for almost a decade to feature a large allocation of tickets for away fans.<\/p>\n
Following numerous hooligan clashes in previous meetings between the Glasgow rivals, away supporters were banned from the matches in 2023, before being allowed to return on a reduced basis last year.<\/p>\n
Celtic had been given fewer than 1000 tickets for games at Rangers since 2018, with the Scottish Cup tie seen as a test for greater numbers of away fans.<\/p>\n
On the incident involving his backroom staff member, Celtic boss Martin O\u2019Neill said: \u201cAs we were making our way back, I think there was some sort of fracas; somebody tried to get on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a natural euphoria about winning a game and about fans joining in. If this has gone too far, that would be disappointing.\u201d O\u2019Neill\u2019s side moved into the semi-finals despite failing to register a single shot on target in 120 minutes.<\/p>\n
In the shootout, Rangers captain James Tavernier hit the bar with the first penalty before Djeidi Gassama blazed over.<\/p>\n
Cvancara converted to seal Celtic\u2019s victory before chaos erupted. \u201cThere were a few tete-a-tetes. It\u2019s unfortunate. Hopefully it doesn\u2019t dilute the performance,\u201d O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOld Firm games are explosive games, they always have been. That\u2019s maybe one of the reasons why the derby is one of the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rangers boss Danny Rohl added: \u201cI was not on the pitch in this moment. I didn\u2019t see it until now. I heard just that there was something on the pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we all know the emotional situation after a game. Nobody likes to see this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite amassing 24 shots and having a goal wiped out by VAR following a handball by Emmanuel Fernandez in extra-time, Rangers once again stumbled against their hated neighbours.<\/p>\n
The defeat was a bitter blow after Rangers blew a two-goal halftime lead in their 2-2 draw with Celtic in the Scottish Premiership at Ibrox last weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Scottish Football Association launched an investigation after Rangers and Celtic fans clashed in a \u201cshameful\u201d pitch battle that left police injured after Sunday\u2019s Scottish Cup quarter-final. Backed by 7500 fans, Celtic beat their Glasgow rivals 4-2 on penalties following a 0-0 draw after extra-time at Ibrox. Fighting broke out when dozens of visiting Celtic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-232265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}