Chris Davies believes that Cedric Kipre’s brutal attack on Moussa Dembele could have ended the striker’s career.
Thirteen minutes into the Betfred Cup Final the defender lunged in over the top of the ball into Dembele’s lower leg sending him crashing to the ground.
Craig Thomson had a clear view of the incident but failed to award a free kick never mind take action against Kipre.
Whether Thomson felt it would ruin the show-piece fixture to send Kipre off or the growing trend to give players more leeway against talented opponents isn’t known but ‘fortunately’ Dembele isn’t looking at a long term absence.
Asked about the incident Davies told The Sun: “The more you watch it back, the worse it gets. Could it have been a career-wrecker? Absolutely.”
The Celtic assistant added: “With a bit of luck Moussa’s avoided that situation of a long-term injury. Physically he’s strong. Hopefully he won’t be out for too long.
“He’s got a swollen ankle. It was a very poorly-timed tackle, so we’ll have to see how he goes. He’s had a bad twist to the ankle, but it could have been much, much worse. Thankfully for him, it’s not.
“It’s early stages with the swelling. We’ll wait for that to go down. After 72 hours you can start to get a clearer picture on a twist but it’s not a long-term thing. Hopefully he’ll be OK.”
Kipre will be in the Motherwell side to face Celtic at Fir Park tonight with Willie Collum refereeing the match.
Last season Kieran Tierney and Scott Sinclair were on the end of some brutal challenges but it seems that Scottish referees are reluctant to show a straight red card.