Celtic star features high up on new rankings list despite criticism, Rangers vs Bilbao ref faces UEFA axe threat

Celtic are back in Scottish Premiership action this weekend when they host Kilmarnock at Parkhead - but it will not be a title party following their slip up against St Johnstone last Sunday.

As for Rangers, Barry Ferguson’s depelated side will head for Aberdeen just a few days on from their goalless Europa League quarter-final first leg draw with Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night.

As the two Glasgow sides look ahead to their upcoming fixtures, we’ve taken a look at some of the latest news on Friday.

Schmeichel among top 20 goals in world football

Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has been named in the top 20 shot-stoppers over the past year - with the only other glove rival in the Scottish Premiership to make the top 100 being Aberdeen’s Dimitar Mitov (80th).

The Danish international was 19th in the overall list created by boffins at the CIES Football Observatory, which is based on “sporting level of matches played, results of games as well as the deviation in the percentage of saves at domestic league level compared to the expected value given the defensive strength of their teams.”

Schmeichel - currently sidelined with a shoulder injury - is the third oldest keeper to feature in the top 20 at the age of 38, behind Remko Pasveer and Fernando Muslera. He scored 80.6 on the index out of 100. The top three were PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, Inter Milan’s Yann Sommer and Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.

Son of the legendary Manchester United stopper Peter, he has kept 24 clean sheets in 46 appearances so far this term.

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Angry Spaniards hit out at Rangers vs Athletic Bilbao official

Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs should be suspended by UEFA after making three glaring blunders during Rangers’ goalless draw with Athletic Bilbao last night.

That’s according to livid former top Spanish whistler turned pundit Pavel Fernandez who insists Kovacs got three big calls wrong.

He admitted: “UEFA should hand Istvan Kovacs a suspension for his poor game. He managed to miss a clear red card for Robin Propper, he missed a clear penalty for Maroan Sannadi and then made it worse by booking him for simulation.

“Then he somehow managed to miss the handball against Dujon Sterling. It’s true that he has his arms behind his back, but they were outstretched and it was a clear penalty. Kovacs didn’t have a good night in Scotland.”