Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha loses the plot with Celtic captain Scott Brown over alleged elbow

PEDRO CAIXINHA told Scott Brown he was lucky he wasn’t playing against him in an angry exchange in yesterday’s Old Firm derby.

The Rangers manager challenged the Celtic captain as he made his way off the pitch after being infuriated by what he felt was an elbow on his player Alfredo Morelos.

“I was angry at half-time. Did you see it? I can tell you because I’m clear and open-minded,” said the Portuguese.

“It’s the second time it has happened. It was the same in April with the same actor from one team (Brown) and a different actor from the other team (then Kenny Miller, now Morelos).

“I saw an elbow from Brown and I told the fourth official, who was on the same line as me.

“But the referee let it go.

“Scott Brown was coming off and I told him: ‘You do that, but if I was on the pitch, you wouldn’t’.

“I wouldn’t have allowed him to put his elbow in my face. If someone does nothing, I have to defend my club, my players and the truth of the game.

“It’s the referee’s decision. If he doesn’t think it’s an action to get booked or sent off, it’s his decision. I need to respect it.

“If I was a player and I had to face Brown or players like him, it would be a different thing.

“My players should not let it happen. You need to mark your presence down there.

“They need to feel your presence. I’m not afraid of nothing – I’m here to defend this club.

“It was a shame that I couldn’t play because I know the mentality I have.

“I didn’t hear what Brown said to me when he came off.

“But my discussion with him is not important. Is this the only moment of the game? No, it was at half-time, not part of the game.”

And what Caixinha saw in the regulation 90 minutes the action left him frustrated.

“The team who made the least mistakes won today. I concede that we made two mistakes that led to the final result,” he said.

“That was the way they scored the goals. They were better than us as the game went on, definitely.

“They started to impose their game on us. We coped with it for spells and it was balanced.

“But we never said we’d make a title challenge. We just said we’d take it game by game. That’s the reality. We’re eight points behind the leader.

“So we need to focus on the next match. And that’s very important.

“Because now we’re going to see what we’re made of. Now we’ll see if we react the way we need to or just look around and don’t take decisions.”

“I’m really looking forward to that.”

Brendan Rodgers insisted that, unlike his opposite number, he saw nothing “untoward” during his side’s win.

Instead, the jubilant Bhoys boss heaped praise on whistler Craig Thomson, before hailing his players’ courage.

“I didn’t see that,” he said when asked for his view on the accusations levelled at his captain.

“I thought it was a very good game. I thought it was competitive. It was aggressive and you want it aggressive.

“But I think we need to give a mention to the referee as well, because I thought he was excellent.

“He and his staff controlled it very, very well. But, no, I didn’t see anything untoward.”

Celtic’s victory made it three wins out of three for Rodgers against Caixinha, and stretched the Bhoys boss’ unbeaten Old Firm run to seven games.

The aggregate scoreline in those matches is now 18-4 in Celtic’s favour.

But Rodgers insisted he was never 100% comfortable that his side would claim another victory until they went into game management mode at 2-0.

“There’s always tension around these games,” said Rodgers.

“You can’t become complacent, anything can happen. Especially when you come into today’s atmosphere.

“But what you see in my team is that development of how to cope. There’s a real courage physically to work and run, but that mental courage to play.

“In a lot of games where you might not score in the first 10 minutes you need to work the ball, be patient, try and tire the opponent out and eventually make the breakthrough – and that’s what we did.

“When we did the space opens up even more for us because Rangers have  to attack and we get more opportunities.

“You’re never in your comfort chair. You’re always focused on the game and we tried to manage the game through with our substitutions.

“I thought the players coped with that very well.”