Mikael Lustig has revealed that banter boy Derek McInnes was his target in the closing stages of the Betfred Cup Final at Hampden.
The hoops defender was playing directly in front of the Dons boss during the second half as Celtic enjoyed their third cup final win over Aberdeen in 24 months.
Serial loser Graeme Shinnie hit out at Lustig for being harsh on Lewis Ferguson but has kept quiet about the undignified actions of Shay Logan in previous matches against Celtic earlier this season.
At the final whistle McInnes came onto the park to confront Lustig- in front of the cameras after the microphones had missed out on the touchline ‘banter’.
“I went to Ryan (Christie) because he had scored a really good goal,” Lustig explained to the Daily Record about the false alarm final whistle from Andrew Dallas.
“Their players thought I went to the young boy and maybe that is where the misunderstanding was. And then there were still a few seconds to go.
“They said I went for the 19-year-old boy, but I was screaming at McInnes because we had a little bit of banter at a throw in.
“It was banter and it was aimed at their manager.
“We play football and there are a lot of emotions. Sometimes you maybe are not happy about things after but, as I said, it is all down to emotions and I’m not going to run out there just to be a nice boy.
“If they feel a little bit sad about it, then I apologise.”
If young Ferguson wants to develop his career he would do well to adapt the attitude of Lustig and Scott Brown rather than looking around the dressing room at Pittodrie.
Sunday was Lustig’s fourth League/Betfred Cup success to go alongside seven title wins and three Scottish Cup winners medals.
The Celtic defender has also played in the World Cup Finals and European Championships, during the summer he helped Sweden to reach the last eight in the World Cup Finals in Russia.
