Brendan Rodgers has reviewed Ryan Bowman’s foul on Kieran Tierney and described it as horrendous.
After the match last Saturday the hoops boss felt that the condition of the pitch and a bad bounce had contributed to the incident.
Supporters who had watched the incident online were shocked by the straight leg challenge that could have caused much more damage than a few gashes on the side of the players’ knee.
Despite having a close up view of the incident referee Don Robertson was almost apologetic as he issued the Motherwell man with a yellow card.
Speaking today to STVÂ Rodgers admitted: “I saw the tackle on Kieran Tierney, which I didn’t get the chance to see last week, it was a horrendous challenge.
“Now this is a kid who is coming through. He’s 19 years of age, he’s one of the great prospects of Scottish football.
“I’ve a boy who’s a brilliant coach on my staff – John Kennedy – who was also a brilliant prospect. In one challenge he lost his career.
“Now I don’t really want that to happen to one of my players, or any player for that fact, whether he’s from Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, wherever.
“The players, we need to make sure, are protected. And I can only talk about my players. It’s the responsibility of the referees to protect the game and the players.
“We’re playing a mans’ game and have no problem with the aggression. Like I say, we have coped with that but the concern for me are the ones that are late.”
The previous week Scott Sinclair was on the receiving end of an equally nasty challenge from Iian Vigurs that only attracted a yellow card.
With Celtic winning well it seems that opponents have free reign to put in a brutal challenge knowing that the worst they can expect is a yellow card.
Crawford Allan will be in charge of Celtic’s home match with Hamilton on Saturday.