Barry Ferguson defends Vaclav Cerny over Celtic Park celebration as Rangers boss addresses water bottle incident

Rangers manager Barry Ferguson has defended Vaclav Cerny over his controversial goal celebrations during the 3-2 victory over Celtic at Parkhead before the international break.

The Czech winger, who had been substituted minutes earlier, was accused of spraying the contents of a water bottle towards Celtic supporters sat at the front of the stand as he raced down the trackside to join in with his team-mates' celebrations following Hamza Igamane's 88th minute winner.

The incident sparked a furious reaction from the Celtic fans behind the away dugout and even led to a police probe but interim Rangers boss Ferguson has backed his player by insisting he would have had more of an issue if he did not celebrate.

Vaclav Cerny (right) sets off down the touchline to celebrate Rangers' late winner against Celtic at Parkhead. | SNS Group

"The reaction was, he's excited because his team-mate has just scored what was to be the winning goal," Ferguson said. "I would have a problem if my players and staff sat in their seat and never said a word or done anything.

"I want to see players and staff celebrate. We play football to win games, and when we win games I want to see my players and staff celebrate alongside our supporters.

"Sometimes you get a wee bit over-excited. I've no issues with that. Vaclav was just over excited with his team-mate Hamza scoring a goal to get us three points where we've not been able to do that for five years, which is a long, long time."

Ferguson was asked for his thoughts on police involvement but chose to keep his counsel.

"I'll let them deal with that," he said. "I've had a private chat with Vaclav and it will remain private. But the one thing I've made clear to my players and staff is when they score, we celebrate, and after the game, whether it's Celtic, Fenerbahce, St Mirren, Dundee or whoever it is, if that whistle goes and we've won three points, I've no issues with going and celebrating with our fans.

These guys pay a fortune to travel everywhere and come and support us. I want to see a bit of passion. Not just from the stands but from my players."