Celtic stars don’t maintain again after X-rated Rangers fan abuse and pitch invasion

Celtic beat Rangers on penalties in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox as ugly post-match scenes saw players confronted by furious home supporters in the tunnel.

Triumphant Celtic players and staff were subjected to X-rated abuse following their victory over Rangers during the pitch invasion that sparked chaos at Ibrox.

A number of Parkhead men, including Julian Araujo, Tomas Cvancara and Shaun Maloney encountered foul-mouthed tirades from supporters positioned in the home end as they headed towards the tunnel. Daizen Maeda also unleashed a primal roar towards dejected Rangers supporters after receiving an earful of criticism.

This happened after stewards and police officers, trying to control the running battle occurring between supporters from both sides, guided the stars off the pitch. And it was Celtic stars who had nowhere to escape as they were bombarded with shouts from furious punters after their side were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by their greatest rivals on penalties.

A video circulated extensively on social media shows Hoops stars and coaching staff being angrily berated by Rangers fans who had remained behind to express their rage.

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Police and football authorities now face a major headache after the return of the full allocation of away fans to this fixture in six years concluded in bitterness and fury.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Celtic boss Martin O’Neill gave his thoughts.. He said: “It was a big derby game. I think there was a lot of jubilation at us winning.

“Obviously the fans spilt over. I suppose it’s very difficult to quell that if that’s the case. Maybe it should be the first question, maybe it shouldn’t be. I thought it might be your third question.

“I just thought the team were absolutely fantastic. Fourth game in ten days. Absolutely out on our feet. We defended magnificently for long periods of the game. Thankfully we came through.”

Asked if his staff and players were safe, he added: “As we were making our way back, there was some sort of fracass. Somebody tried to get on the field. I don’t know, all I saw was there was a bit of a scrum down at the bottom.

“As you say, maybe it does taint proceedings. I think there was an element of self protection in that one, if that’s the case. I’m making judgments here on things that I only half saw.

“From my viewpoint, it was a great, great win for us. We were under pressure during the course of the game, as you would expect Rangers are very strong. They’ve had the full week to go through. We’ve had to travel to Aberdeen, our fourth away game in ten days. Just fantastic effort by the players, really, really fantastic.”

Celtic now enter the hat for the Scottish Cup semi-final draw and will face either Dunfermline, Falkirk or the winner of St Mirren vs Partick Thistle.