STEVEN Gerrard has launched an astonishing attack on Scottish refereeing and claimed “the world is against us” after his Rangers side was held to a 1-1 draw by Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Gerrard was incensed that Kevin Clancy, the match official, ordered off Alfredo Morelos, the Rangers striker, for kicking out at Scott McKenna, the Aberdeen centre half, early on in his first Ladbrokes Premiership game.
The Liverpool and England great felt that decision was harsh on Morelos and stated that McKenna should also have been punished for “violent barges” in the build-up to the incident.
He was also angry that Dominic Ball, the Aberdeen defender, had remained on the park after bringing down Josh Windass, the Rangers winger, inside his penalty box in the first-half.
Gerrard, who was appointed back in May, claimed that refereeing decisions had been going against Rangers for a long time and predicted that his team would suffer at the hands of match officials in future.
“It seems like the world is against us today,” he said. “But we’ll make sure we get better for that. We’ll make sure we play better and try and put results to bed, because it looks like some more decisions will go against us as the season goes on.
“We need to try and use it to our advantage. It’s not just today, it’s been happening for a while. It’s been happening for a good while. I believe it’s been happening for seasons. That’s my opinion, just my opinion.
“I’ve watched footage. Look, I don’t think we ever get anything to go for us. Everything we have seen today is about Rangers. So someone should give me answers on that.
“Someone should give me the answers because something should have happened after that penalty. With the penalty there was no attempt to play the ball. So it’s beyond me how a card can’t be shown for that situation.
“There was no attempt to play the ball. That’s the rules, it doesn’t matter what my opinion on it is. The rules state that if you don’t make an attempt to play the ball, you should be punished. There was no punishment.”
Gerrard admitted that Morelos had made it easy for Clancy to send him off by kicking out at McKenna – but he expressed scepticism that assistant referee David McGeachie had failed to see the “violent barges” on his player.
“We will speak to Alfredo about the part he has played in his red card,” he said. “I think when you do stuff like that, when you react like that, you leave officials with decisions to make.
“At the same time, we feel hard done by because we felt he was provoked twice with violent barges. No way in the world was his kick out violent. So we didn’t think he deserved a red.
“What’s disappointing from our point of view is that the whole incident was two or three seconds, but the assistant only saw one second of it. So he sees Alfredo’s instant in one second but not the two barges in the other two seconds.
“I had a chat with him (Clancy). The assistant said he only saw one second out of the three with the Alfredo incident, which I find hard to believe. It is what is is. I can’t control if the issue is going to be ongoing. All I can do is give my opinion on it.”
Asked if Rangers would appeal against the Morelos red card, he said: “There are always emotions straight after the game. We’ve got a long journey back to reflect and decide on it. But the big decisions have gone against us today.”
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