Brendan Rodgers has warned sledging managers to accept the consequences of having a go at Celtic players.
After the final whistle in the Betfred Cup Final at Hampden Derek McInnes headed straight onto the park to confront Mikael Lustig.
The Celtic defender had clashed with Graeme Shinnie and Lewis Ferguson late in the match but later revealed that his real target was the Dons boss.
Touchline microphones never picked up any ‘banter’ between McInnes and Lustig but the cameras showed their confrontation after the final whistle.
“If you are a manager on the side of the field and you get involved with players, and if something comes back to you, then you have to be ready to take that,” Rodgers told The Sun.
“I didn’t know what they were speaking about at the time, but I know now and, from my watching it on the replay, there’s no way Mika was doing that.
“If you look at us as a team and our record, we are a very sporting team considering every game we play has huge pressure.”
Rodgers has a close relationship with McInnes, sending Danny Ward on loan while managing Liverpool but clearly feels that a line was crossed at Hampden on Sunday.
Before the match Shinnie had claimed that he was hated by Scott Brown but the Celtic skipper joked and laughed at the so-called confrontation with the Aberdeen midfielder.
Tonight Aberdeen go to Ibrox but Celtic’s December 26 visit to Pittodrie is bound to be tasty.