Copenhagen stars blast Police Scotland officers over Celtic Park bust-up

Striker charged over incident which saw officer knocked to the deck

A pair of Copenhagen stars have criticised Police Scotland officers for the incident that led to one of the visiting players being charged with assault.

The bust-up occurred five minutes from the end of the Europa League last-32 encounter at Celtic Park.

Pep Biel had just scored to put the visitors back in front after Odsonne Edouard had cancelled out Michael Santos' opener.

Michael Santos, right, is led away after Copenhagen score their second goal at Parkhead. Picture: SNS

The Spaniard attempted to run to the away fans in the corner of the stadium but was collared by a policeman. The two briefly exchanged words before Santos came in to defend his team-mate, with the officer hitting the deck.

Santos was later charged but his captain, Portuguese midfielder Zeca, believes the situation was of the officer's making.

He said: Police should not tackle a player. People have to understand it’s football. It’s an emotional game.

“Of course you shouldn’t jump into the stands, but we wanted to be close to our supporters and celebrate with them.”

He was backed up over his comments by team-mate Rasmus Falk, who added: "“I think there needs to be a greater understanding. We just wanted to rejoice with those who were with us.

“We were in the process of creating a huge result, so you have to have a sense of the situation for those emotions to be displayed. Our fans were extremely happy, we were extremely happy.”

“Let’s celebrate it. It was a good situation. We were displaying joy and we didn’t stay in that area for long. You must be allowed to celebrate.”