Fabio Silva lands Celtic 'simulation' charge from Brendan Rodgers as boss vents on Rangers turning point

Rodgers felt the decisions to award his own side a spot kick and disallow a Cyriel dessers goal were spot on.

Brendan Rodgers has accused Fabio Silva of "simulating" the penalty that helped Rangers come back from the dead.

After Philippe Clement's team came out to try and salvage something from a crucial Old Firm clash having suffered a first half battering from Celtic, Silva went over Alistair Johnston's outstretched leg in the area. The Portuguese had been quick to go down on a number of occasions until then, and it seemed that this one too far as John Beaton flashed the yellow card.

But VAR Nick Walsh sent him to the monitor and another looked resulted in Silva's yellow being wiped and a penalty to Rangers, which James Tavernier buried to spark a comeback. On paper, a 3-3 draw would have been acceptable to Rodgers in the context of a tight title race, playing across Glasgow with no away fans in the house. But letting 2-0 and 3-2 leads slip will be a source of frustration.

And while the Celtic boss was measured in his comments having just returned from a touchline ban, the Irishman felt Beaton had got it right in real time before Walsh suggested a rethink. He told Sky Sports: "The penalty changes the momentum. of the game slightly for us in the second half.

"I thought it was a good decision on the pitch and when you watch it back on the replays, it's really good recovery defending by Ali Johnston. He's going one way and you can see he gets a nick on the ball and plays it away.

"Obviously the player then has gone down and is obviously looking to simulate the penalty. So I thought. that gave them a little lift in the game, us having been the better team."

The Hoops converted a penalty of their own before the break thanks to a Connor Goldson handball. And Cyriel Dessers thought he'd made it 2-2, only for his close range scrambled strike to be ruled out for an earlier foul on Nicolas Kuhn, which also went to VAR.

Asked for his overall assessment on the trio of calls, Rodgers said: "I think they're all correct. The arm was up for our penalty so it's out of that bodyline, or whatever words they use. So it looked a penalty and it's great composure from Matt on the finish.

"Their disallowed goal was a foul. I think we could see that and John's seen that afterwards. In a game of this magnitude, it's always a difficult game to referee and for me it's only the penalty that swings it for them a little bit in the second half. But apart from that, I'll focus on my team and the players, how much they gave to the game, which was fanatastic"