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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Peter Davidson

Paul Lambert digs up Celtic legends referee as he's left stunned by Liverpool going all Michael Jordan

Paul Lambert has taken a playful dig at officials after his Celtic Legends side were denied two goals in a charity kickabout against Liverpool and joked he thought bsaketball legends Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan had been drafted in to join the action.

The former Hoops midfielder took charge for the old boys game at Anfield where the hosts ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from former Rangers boss Steven Gerrard and Mark Gonzalez. Gerrard scored a first-half penalty and celebrated in front of the 4,000 strong travelling support which sparked rage in the away end with things thrown onto the pitch.

Celtic had two goal ruled out, one for offside and the other when the linesman ruled the ball had gone over the white line from a cross. Liverpool defender Fabio Aurelio also appeared to handle the ball in the 18-yard box but the referee failed to spot it which denied Celtic a penalty. Despite the friendly nature of the afternoon Lambert still found time to blast the refereeing decisions.

Following the match, Lambert said: "At one point I thought Michael Jordan was out there playing. The handball? Everybody saw that. You didn’t need VAR for that, Shaquille O'Neal would have been proud of that jump. It was just an unbelievable decision. The offside goal, I don’t know how a ball can go out the pitch and then hit the front of the bar? Unless there was a hurricane in that goalmouth, I don’t know? I think some decisions went against them."

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