Ketsbaia rips into Rangers

Anorthosis Famagusta player-coach Temuri Ketsbaia has hit out at Rangers, claiming the side is not worth the money it cost to put together.

The former Newcastle midfielder is furious Ibrox stars Fernando Ricksen accused his side of play-acting after the first leg of their Champions League showdown in Nicosia.

But Ketsbaia came out with all guns blazing by ridiculing Alex McLeish’s big-money players – and questioning the early red-card incident which tarnished Saturday’s Old Firm derby.

Responding to Ricksen’s remarks, the Georgian said: “The biggest cheating in football is that Rangers cost more than £37m (€54.5m) and our team cost €1.5m ( just over £1m).

“This is the biggest cheating I know and the truth is I don’t see such a big difference between us. I don’t think Rangers are 40 times better than us. So this is the biggest cheating in football.

“If you’re asking me about cheating I would say what about the sending-off of the Celtic player on Saturday?

“I didn’t know such things happened in Scottish football – but we have seen this with our own eyes in the last week.

“After that it was easy for them to get the win. After 23 minutes the match was finished.

“Then you look back to our game against them in Cyprus. Look at the fouls they made against us that night. They should have had one or two players sent off.”