O'Neill hits out at French referee

Raging Celtic manager Martin O’Neill tonight sensationally accused referee Claude Colunbo of man-handling him and will ask UEFA to view the astonishing late flash-point.

The French official concluded an astonishingly “poor” display by sending the passionate Northern Irishman to the stand in the final minutes of their 1-0 UEFA Cup win over Celta Vigo.

O’Neill claimed that he was in the technical area, unlike his dismissal in Turin last season which saw him pick up a one-match touchline ban.

He also insists that the linesman never called the referee over and, despite now facing a lengthy punishment, he reckons the official was merely making a name for himself.

“It was inappropriate (the referee’s man-handling) without a doubt,” snapped O’Neill. “I don’t know whether we would have any chance of doing anything about it (with UEFA).

“I would probably say no chance, but I certainly want to send some video evidence of that particular incident and of the game itself.

“The referee should also have the pleasure of having to look at that before he puts his own official stamp on the game. He’s not doing the second game is he?

“The basic difference was that in Turin, whether the decision was right or wrong, I was out of of the technical area.

“I was out of the technical area when the referee awarded Juventus a penalty which they converted to win 3-2, but tonight I did not stand out of the technical area.

“In fact, he came to ask the linesman if he was complaining about me and he shrugged his shoulders to say no, but the referee went ahead with it.”

Despite the incident, the Celtic boss did not want it to overshadow what he felt was a great performance and victory for his side over the Spanish side.

He continued: “The referee was very poor but that’s not been the issue. It’s about the team, and they were terrific.

“Their efforts against a side who are sixth in the Spanish League were more than any little side-show distraction from the referee.

“He did his best all evening to spoil proceedings and he had an obvious problem with the linesman because he overruled him consistently and excessively.

“That affected the linesman’s confidence, but that’s enough talking about it because the referee did detract from our performance tonight.”