Robbie Neilson: ‘You need decapitation to get a red card at Celtic. There was nearly a leg off’ admits seething Hearts boss

Robbie Neilson joked a Celtic player would need to ‘decapitate’ an opponent in order to receive a red card at Parkhead after the Hearts boss complained that defender Alexandro Bernabei deserved to sent off in the first-half.

The Argentine left-back caught Jambos defender Nathaniel Atkinson on the ankle with a late challenge after 28 minutes with the match finely poised at 1-1, but referee Alan Muir opted against taking any action. VAR official Nick Walsh reviewed the incident for a serious foul play and a potential red card and chose not to invite Muir to re-examine it on the pitchside monitor as play continued.

Celtic won the Premiership clash 3-1 with goals from Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi and substitute Sead Haksabanovic after Josh Ginnelly had headed Hearts into an early sixth minute lead in a game full of flashpoints.

Neilson, who was pleased with several aspects of his team’s display in Glasgow’s East End last night, was left bemused by the decision and sarcastically admitted they would need to have a player “decapitated” to get a decision to fall their way.

He explained: “There was a really bad tackle and the referee didn’t book him (Bernabei). It’s happened, I’m sure Alan will be really disappointed when he looks at it. It’s not really his fault, I think he needs to at least book him but you would think VAR would tell him to have a look at it.

“I thought the whole thing was a shambles. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen no yellow card but it goes to VAR for serious foul play. I’m sure Alan will look at it tonight and firstly be disappointed with his own decision. Secondly, that he wasn’t asked to look at the VAR screen. If he sees it, I think it’s a different outcome.

“Ususally, coming to Parkhead, you need decapitation before you will get a red card against you. It wasn’t to be today. There was nearly a leg off, but if the head came off we might have got it.”

Relieved Celtic manager felt his side were “disjointed” but highlighted the mentality of his team for coming from behind for a second consecutive match.

He stated: “We weren’t great tonight. We weren’t at our fluent best as we have been. I’ve got to make an allowance for the fact I made a number of changes which always disrupts things, particularly when you’re putting in guys who haven’t played for quite a while. We had to work hard for the points

“We didn’t really get into our rhythm from the start and I take responsibility for that. We looked disjointed and forced things a little bit, particularly early on in the game, but the lads again showed a strong mentality and the best part of tonight was the quality of our goals. We scored three excellent goals to get the job done.”