Former FIFA referee, Keith Stuart Hackett, has joined Rangers boss, Barry Ferguson, to slam Irfan Peljto for his poor decision against Cyriel Dessers in the UEFA Europa League last night, Soccernet.ng reports.
The Gers bowed out of European competition yesterday following a 2-0 loss to Athletic Bilbao, but several talking points about the officiating of the game were raised, particularly a situation involving Cyriel Dessers.
In the 17th minute, Bilbao defender Daniel Vivian grabbed the Nigerian striker by the shirt when he was through on goal, and Dessers fell as a result. However, instead of giving a penalty, the Bosnian referee in charge called for play to continue.
Dessers stood up with a ripped shirt, and immediately after swapping his jersey for a new set, the referee gave him a yellow card in a bizarre succession of incidents.
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Pure shite strips, from Turkey to China, cheap strips cheap team, newco not got a clue. pic.twitter.com/IveoyonReT
— chrismac1888 (@chrismac1888) April 17, 2025
Keith Hackett, who was a FIFA-listed referee between 1981 and 1991, agrees with the statements made by Dessers and his head coach, revealing the incident should have led to a penalty kick and a red card for the defender involved.
“The shirt pull should really have been picked up by VAR, who should then have sent the referee to the monitor. It is difficult to understand why this clear offence was not acted upon and a penalty kick was not awarded,” the retired referee told Football Insider in quotes relayed by the Scottish Sun.
“It’s a clean pull on Cyriel and a clear red card. If they go down to ten men, that changes the full game, and it baffles me at times, some of these decisions.
“Then the second one, in the second half with Nico [Raskin], when the defender’s hand is out and the ball strikes it. That’s another penalty.
“The fourth official wasn’t willing to speak to me, and I wasn’t going to get a booking myself. Then Cyriel comes off to change his strip and gets a yellow card when he throws it.”
“The ball gets deflected into the box, and I wanted to make a run for it, as I think I can get to it. Then my shirt gets pulled, and even if there’s doubt, just look at the shirt.
“If there’s a tear like this, something happened at least. You can’t rip a shirt in the box, it’s not possible. It’s not possible in the middle of the pitch, never mind the box.
“So that was a game changer. I got a yellow card because I came back onto the pitch. I changed my shirt while I was still on and wanted to get back to my position, but got booked.
“I have no explanation for that. After it, the ref was kind to me and showed some compassion, but I spoke to the defender and, of course, he admitted it was a penalty.
“Everyone could see what happened, but we could have done more. There was also a shout for a penalty in the second half for a handball, but that’s football; we were on the wrong side of it today. That hurts, but we have to get through it,” the 30-year-old told TNT Sports in quotes revealed by the Daily Record.
They're currently second, 13 points above Hibernian, but a whooping 15 points behind league leaders, Celtic.
