Neil Lennon calls out referee after Celtic draw vs Rennes

Celtic drew 1-1 with Rennes in a hard-fought contest away in France. But Neil Lennon was not impressed with some of the referee’s decision during the game and called him out in his pot-match interview.

It is safe to say that the game between Celtic and Rennes had reached boiling point by the final whistle. A total of 35 fouls, 2 penalties given, 5 yellow cards and a red meant that the referees had a lot on their hands as the Scottish champions fought the French Cup winners to a 1-1 draw.

It was a tale of two penalties in Rennes. Niang made no mistake from the spot after being brought down by Kris Ajer and sent the French side into half-time with a 1-0 lead. But a rejuvenated Celtic side took control of the game after the break and earned a penalty of their own when James Forrest was taken down by Damien Da Silva, unable to cope with the winger’s footwork. Christie converted the resulting penalty to even things up and that is how things ended after 90 minutes.

Yet some of the referee’s decisions on the night must have left a few heads scratching. First of all, both sides had legitimate claims to one more penalty each and surely Ryan Christie would have won one if VAR was available. Second was the red card that Vakoun Issouf Bayo received just 8 minutes after coming on.

He earned a yellow in the 89th minute after elbowing Rennes captain, Damien Da Silva, in the face which left him unable to take any further part in the game. But with the home team down to 10 men, the striker then made another tackle on the Rennes keeper just minutes later that earned him a second yellow.

This time though it looked like Bayo was playing for the ball and there was minimal contact with the keeper, who made most of the contact knowing that the referee was under pressure to send Bayo off. And the referee took the bait as well sending the Celtic man off after it had initially appeared that he had waived the Rennes players’ protests off.

Lennon was quite clearly not happy with the decision and let it be known in his post-match interview:

"“We thoroughly merited a point, if not 3 points. It’s a great start for us, you always want more.“I’m not happy about the red card and we should’ve had another penalty”"

Lennon’s claims are completely justified and Bayo should not have been sent off. But judging by the performances on the night, a draw is probably a fair result and sets up a mouth-watering clash at Celtic Park in November.