Alan Thompson has blamed El-Hadji Diouf for kicking off scenes of chaos as Celtic dumped Rangers out of the Scottish Cup.
The Blackburn outcast deliberately bumped Celtic physio Tim Wilkinson as he raced onto the pitch to treat Emilio Izaguirre whilst Steven Whittaker was red carded.
Diouf was soon involved in an angry exchange with Neil Lennon before being dragged away by Rangers coach Kenny McDowall.
“Our physio went on after Whittaker was sent off and Diouf threw one at him,” Thompson explained.
“It was like a hard shoulder barge and Neil saw it. Things went on from there – that’s what started it.”
That sparked the first angry exchange between Lennon and Ally McCoist before matters spilled over at the final whistle.
Rangers boss Walter Smith admitted: “The problem on the touchline was simple – Alistair (McCoist) was very annoyed that Neil was being aggressive towards one of our players.
“I didn’t see what happened with them at the end of the game. I’m always pretty quick up the tunnel after matches.
“Diouf is an easy target, whatever he does. He gets himself wound up, you saw that tonight.
“From our point of view we didn’t compete here last time and lost 3-0, so at least we did tonight.”
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