What Rangers and Celtic managers had to say about bottle incident as police make statement

Rival managers Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ange Postecoglou both expressed dismay at the second half of the Old Firm match at Ibrox being delayed after a bottle was thrown into the penalty area in front of the Copland Road Stand.

Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart raised the alarm when he took to the pitch and spotted shards of broken glass in his goalmouth. Members of the Rangers groundstaff came out to clear the area as the players of both teams waited on the pitch for several minutes before referee Willie Collum could restart the game.

“It is disappointing,” said Celtic manager Posteocglou who saw his team come from behind to win 2-1 and extend their lead at the top of the Premiership table to six points with six games remaining.

"I thought it was a proper derby, the atmosphere was unbelievable, both teams were up for it, both teams were going for it.

Rangers groundstaff with Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart as they remove glass fragments from the penalty area before the start of the second half at Ibrox on Sunday. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

"You don’t need it. I don’t know what people are trying to achieve by doing that.

"I thought it was a fantastic spectacle. Sitting here now as the winning coach that kind of taints my view of it, but I thought anybody watching that would agree it was a good game of football and you could tell there was something meaningful at the end of it by the way both sets of players went at it.

"Like I said their crowd was up for it, our 700 was up for it and couldn’t stop singing. That is what you want.”

Van Bronckhorst was also left disappointed and frustrated by the senseless action which held up his team’s efforts to salvage the match.

“Of course it’s not what you want, “ he said. “You go out of the locker room and are preparing well for the second half, you want to go. Then you have to wait a couple of minutes.

“It’s never good that due to situations the game has to be stopped. Safety is first and I understand we have to wait for the pitch to be playable for both teams.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We are aware of a glass bottle being thrown on the pitch at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow during the Rangers v Celtic match on Sunday, 3 April, 2022.

"Enquiries are currently ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”

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