Philippe Clement was furious with Nathan Moriah-Welsh's 'reckless' tackle on Rangers midfielder John Lundstram in last night's Scottish Cup tie at Easter Road.
Lundstram and Fabio Silva scored as the visitors ran out 2-0 winners aginst nine-men, with Hibernian losing their cool in the quarter-final clash under the lights.
Jordan Obita was first to go on 68 minutes after he lifted his hands in a collision with Rabbi Matondo.
And then just two minutes later, Moriah Welsh's challenge on Lundstram earned a quickfire second red card for Hibs.
The two red cards incidents as Jordan Obita and Nathan Moriah-Welsh are sent off for Hibs.
— The Hibs Observer (@HibsObserver_) March 10, 2024
What was your view on these? 👇pic.twitter.com/SvvSUMGWiL
And Clement insists there is no place in football for tackles like that, pointing out it's not a good look for the game in Scotland.
The Belgian said: “The tackle was a few yards away from me. It is a
reckless tackle with the studs in front and it doesn’t matter then if you break a leg or not. It is just reckless.
“It is important to get that kind of tackle out of the game. It is not good for Scottish football, or any kind of football, tackles like that.
“If you put a hand or an arm in the face for Obita’s second booking you can get a yellow, that everybody knows.
“But players need to know if you tackle like the second one, you get a red.
“It is good for nobody because it is a danger to injure someone if you go in like that.
“I have seen them before also, but they were red cards everywhere — in France, in Belgium, in Europe, but here some people pass by without red cards.
“It is good for the game that players understand this is not the way you tackle because you endanger your opponent and nobody wants to get tackles like that.
“It’s the same with the story of elbows in the past. When I played, you didn’t get red for that. It happened also much more.
“Now this is almost out of the game because everybody knows it risks a red card. It benefits every player, every manager and every club that these things go out of football.”
Hibs boss Nick Montgomery had a different view of the flashpoint.Â
“I haven’t seen Jordan’s incident to be honest," he said. "I know he was on a yellow. He tried to hold Matondo off but apparently he’s caught him on the back of the head with his arm.
“Jordan is an experienced player so, if he has done something that is deemed a yellow card, you don’t want that.
“Nathan is just 21 years old, he’s new to first-team football. And, to be honest, it was right in front of me.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for John Lundstram. He’s a top, top player. But I thought the way he went down, Nathan didn’t catch him.
“I’ve seen that one back and he’s gone across him to try to block him playing a ball down the line, probably knock it out for a throw-in. But John has gone down.
“And the referee was very quick to give the card. To be honest, I was really surprised he didn’t go to the VAR monitor to have a look, considering it was three metres from where the incident happened.”
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