The rule that will heighten Rangers' sense of injustice after 'holy smokes' decision

Rangers’ sense of injustice over the controversial non-award of a penalty kick during the second leg of Europa League quarter-final against Athletic Bilbao will be heightened by a glance at the rules of football, as per IFAB.

The Ibrox side believed they should have been awarded a penalty on 16 minutes when their striker Cyriel Dessers had his shirt ripped by Athletic Bilbao defender Dani Vivian in the penalty box. Replays showed that the Spanish defender tugged the shirt of the Nigerian forward as he tried to chase down a pass, leading to the sponsor’s label on the Rangers hitman’s shirt being removed.

However, there was no VAR check for the incident and ironically, Dessers was booked for re-entering the field of play without permission after changing his shirt.

Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers is booked against Bilbao. | PA

A glance at the IFAB rules suggest that Rangers had a shout for a penalty and a red card for Vivian, with regulation 12.3 stating: "Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.), the offending player must be sent off."

Referee Irfan Peljto was not asked to review the decision by VAR Paul van Boekel, which was criticised by two former Rangers managers on TNT Sports.

‘Embarrassing’ call by referee

"That's a penalty," said Ally McCoist. "He [Dessers] has every right to be unhappy. I'm not sure which part of that isn't a penalty. It's embarrassing, what a state of affairs. It's an absolute embarrassment. Holy smokes."

Giovanni van Bronckhorst added: ‘He’s getting pulled, his shirt is damaged. For this, it’s a penalty. I want to know the explanation why not."

With the tie goalless at that point, it was a major talking point at the San Mames. Bilbao went on to take the lead on the stroke of half-time through their own penalty from Oihan Sancet.