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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Clement questions 'bizarre' penalty as he cites Celtic vs Rangers decision

Philippe Clement has questioned the "bizarre" handball decision leading to a penalty awarded to Kilmarnock at Ibrox.

The Rangers manager questioned the basis for a handball call as he cited the penalty controversy over a denied penalty against Celtic on December 30.

Kilmarnock were awarded a spot-kick after a cross deflected off John Souttar's hand as he slid to try and block the cross - whereas Alistair Johnston appeared to knock the ball out of play with his hand in the derby last week as he closed down Abdallah Sima in the box.

Danny Armstrong dispatched the penalty to net a consolation for Kilmarnock in a 3-1 loss.

Clement bemoaned the situation as he admitted: “The only downside for me is that I cannot explain to my players anymore what is handball and what is not after this game if we get a penalty against like this and a goal against like this three days after what happened at Celtic Park. 

"I can’t give them an explanation and that’s different as a manager when you cannot give an explanation."

And Clement called for further clarity on handball decisions moving forward. He told Rangers TV:  "It's not easy. Afterwards, we can laugh and it’s not a big difference, it's 3-0 or 3-1.

"Just for the future, it needs to be clear for everybody what is handball and what is not handball and these two situations it's a little bit bizarre."

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