By:
Mark Hendry
Martin O’Neill fumed after Reo Hatate was sent off for a “petulant” foul in Celtic’s draw with Bologna.
The Hoops left Italy with a 2-2 draw despite taking a two goal lead from the first-half.
Hatate had picked up a yellow card for a foul on Lewis Ferguson earlier in the action.
And he would be brandished with a second booking over a trip despite the foul being a needless one.
O’Neill, in the Hoops dugout, was livid and let both player and referee know it.
But after sacrificing a lead, the Irishman was simply relieved to come away with a point.
Martin O’Neill was livid at Reo Hatate’s red card for Celtic
Still, he was grilled at full-time on the sending off and he gave his thoughts.
“I’ve seen it back, which I didn’t see at the time. I thought it was really innocuous,” he said.
“And I still think that it is.
“I don’t think that young Reo meant to foul him.
“I think he was being held back to begin with, and he swings round a little bit, a wee bit petulantly in that sense.
“But that wasn’t the reason for it.
“It was actually stamping on the lad’s foot. Now, I think it was completely accidental.
“However, I think really, when you’ve just been booked before that, you should try to stay out of it because the ball looked as if it was going to go out of play.
“Never mind anything else, it is incredibly frustrating.
“Young Reo has apologised profusely to us all, but listen, fine.
“If we’d had him for the rest of the game, until they get tired, I think we would’ve won.”
Celtic have chance to qualify for Europa League knockouts
It was actually Hatate who had given Celtic the lead Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
Goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski made a huge error and passed the ball directly to Daizen Maeda.
The Japanese international found his countryman who tapped into an open goal.
That opener was followed by the 28-year-old’s red card but Celts still took a commanding lead before half-time.
A corner was swung in from the right-hand side and flicked on before Auston Trusty finished it off.
The big American had been man of the match in the action but he couldn’t prevent Thijs Dallinga scoring.
And shortly after the hosts pulled one back, they then levelled.
Jonathan Rowe powered an effort from outside the area beyond Kasper Schmeichel.
But it was right down the middle and the experienced goalkeeper perhaps should have done better.
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