Fashion Sakala fortunate to avoid Rangers injury woe as pundits agree on 'ridiculous' Anthony Stewart red card
The defender's dismissal turned the game on its head and Rangers eventually progressed.
Aberdeen captain Anthony Stewart has been told his tackle on Rangers forward Fashion Sakala was fortunate not to result in a serious injury for his opponent.
The pundits working on the Viaplay Cup semi-final were in agreement as the Dons leader lunged into the Zambian with the game at 1-1. Bojan Miovski had put Jim Goodwin's side ahead before Ryan Jack restored parity for the Light Blues. Aberdeen were left to go into the extra 30 minutes with 10 men and eventually the man advantage told when Kemar Roofe completed the comeback. Pre-match, Stewart had made headlines by saying he thought Antonio Colak was a better striker than Govan peer Alfredo Morelos.
Speaking on Sportsound, former Rangers man Neil McCann says his tackle could have resulted in a serious injury: "Does he slip? That's the question I would like to pose to VAR. He's super aggressive and I am not quite sure why he needs to do that. He's committed already he's going to go hard. Oh no, that's a straight red.
"Sorry, I am trying to cut him some slack but that's a red card every season of your life. Sakala is a very lucky boy he hasn't got a real bad injury there."
The Viaplay pundits agreed with McCann and Ally McCoist said: "It's nonsense. I'll say one thing, if Jim Goodwin wasn't happy with him before the game... He's going away from the goals on the touchline. A crazy challenge... and if Sakala's right leg is on the ground, he doesn't break it, he snaps it in two."
Michael Stewart wasn't in the business of pulling punches either: "At first I was wondering whether he was high. He's not too high but the force is incredible.
"It's just a ridiculous challenge because Sakala is going nowhere. All he needs to do is to continue to show him down the byline and we said before the game, Jim Goodwin needs his captain to have a big game.
"Up until that point, he played well. Now he's off the park. It's a crazy tackle."