Derek Ferguson has blasted one Rangers star after what he did against Celtic in the Old Firm last Sunday.
The Light Blues and their arch-rivals played out one of the greatest Old Firm spectacles in some time as the Scottish Premiership title thriller ended in a 3-3 draw at Ibrox.
Celtic led comfortably at half-time but a mentally strong Rangers side twice came from behind to earn a point and prevent Brendan Rodgers’ men from extending their lead in first place.
The contest was strewn with high drama both from a football point of view and in terms of the refereeing decisions made across the clash.
On-field referee John Beaton and VAR Nick Walsh were busy men as they awarded two penalties in the game and chalked off a goal scored by Cyriel Dessers.
Celtic were handed the first penalty of the derby after Connor Goldson elbowed the ball inside the area, before the most controversial decision of the game involving Fabio Silva was made.
The £35m man on loan from Wolves was fouled inside the box by Alistair Johnston but Beaton initially penalised Silva for diving.
However, the VAR check that followed clearly showed Johnston making contact with Silva’s leg despite getting a very slight touch of the ball and a spot-kick was rightly awarded.
With that, Silva played a big part in Rangers getting back into the epic encounter. But Ferguson was left with a sour taste in his mouth as a result of the Portuguese star’s antics across the first-half.
Frustrated Derek Ferguson slams Fabio Silva
Before the penalty award, Silva had exaggerated the extent of a couple of challenges by making them out to be worse than they were.
And that has riled Ferguson who admitted that he ‘hates’ playacting regardless of the team he supports.
Ferguson, who does believe the Johnston challenge was a penalty, told the Open Goal podcast: “I’d have loved to have got him (Fabio Silva) at half-time and slapped him about by the way.
“As a player, I hate that. That just does my nut in that. But right, if you take that incident in isolation, because I think a few of us (said), ‘has he (dived)?’
“But when you see it (the Johnston tackle), for once VAR has come in and gave the right decision. But take it in isolation, it was a penalty.”
Ferguson makes Philippe Clement claim
Scotland legend James McFadden was also on the panel and had his say. He said: “See when you’ve got a guy who wins fouls or penalties then you see them diving, it goes against them.
“That’s why John Beaton’s went in straight away (with a yellow card).
Derek Ferguson chimed back in by claiming: “That’s the danger. And I’m hearing now that the (Rangers) manager has went and had a word with him (Fabio Silva), he’s addressed the situation.
“The type of player that Clement was, he’ll not be happy with that. He’ll not want his players to be doing that sort of thing or reacting to a challenge.
“It was just far too often and I hate it personally. And I hope it’s not just left to the manager, I hope that some of the players go and get a grip of him.”
