Chris Sutton fires back at Graeme Souness for talking ‘NONSENSE’ after the Rangers icon claimed he tried to ‘influence’ VAR with his ‘biased’ commentary following controversial penalty in Celtic’s draw at Ibrox

Celtic legend Chris Sutton has hit back at Graeme Souness’ claim that he tried to ‘influence’ VAR with his ‘biased’ commentary during Sunday’s Old Firm derby.

Sutton, who played for Celtic between 2000 and 2006, was in the commentary box for Sky Sports at Ibrox, and watched his former club take a 2-0 lead in the first half.

However, Rangers bounced back in the early stages of the second half, and Fabio Silva won a penalty after a tackle by Alistair Johnston. The referee originally waved play on, but VAR intervened, despite Sutton accusing Silva of ‘cheating’ after performing an ’embarrassing’ dive.

Former Rangers player and manager Souness was unimpressed with Sutton’s comments, and vented his frustration on talkSPORT on Monday. 

‘I can’t believe how biased Chris is when he’s talking about Rangers,’ said. ‘He was saying “it’s embarrassing, it’s not a penalty”. It was easily a penalty.

Sutton has rejected this claim, and insisted Rangers should not have been awarded a penalty in the second half

Rangers got a penalty after a challenge by Alistair Johnston on Fabio Silva, but Sutton was adamant that it was dive, and labelled VAR’s intervention ’embarrassing’

‘It’s not even a discussion to have for me that. And here’s a question. Do VAR listen to the commentary for the game? Because I’m thinking “Chris is going that strong here he’s trying to influence whoever is listening maybe in the VAR.”‘

But Sutton has doubled down on his stance that a penalty should not have been awarded, and refuted Souness’ suggestion that he was trying to impact the officials’ final decision.

‘I have a lot of respect for Graeme as a player, manager and pundit. But he is talking utter nonsense to suggest I was trying to somehow influence VAR,’ Sutton told the Daily Record.

‘It would have been better if Nick Walsh WAS watching Sky Sports – as the officials might have made the right call rather than rewarding cheating.

‘I don’t know what he was watching when he called Beaton to the monitor, but it certainly wasn’t the TV coverage. Even in the unlikely event if they were, I’m not sure what kind of power Graeme thinks I wield. Does he think I’m God?! I don’t have that kind of sway unfortunately – give me another few months! 

‘In seriousness, it wasn’t a Celtic thing or a Rangers thing, I just called that incident as I saw it. If anything I suspect Graeme has the Rangers blinkers on as there is no way he’d think that was a penalty if any other team was involved. And having watched it over and over again, NOTHING has changed my mind about the incident. It is still not a penalty kick.

‘Johnston clearly gets a touch on the ball and redirects its path. Silva sees the leg out and takes his chance to throw himself into it. Silva initiated the slight contact and are we supposed to reward simulation or stamp it out? He was rolling around all afternoon and this was another example. His behaviour was embarrassing. Beaton was close to the scene and his initial interpretation was spot on.

‘He could see it in real time and he was right to show him a yellow card for yet another dive. I just can’t understand why Walsh got involved. The fact people can even debate it means it wasn’t a clear and obvious error from the referee in the first place.’

There was a confrontation at full time between Todd Cantwell (left) and Callum McGregor (right)

Both sets of players stepped in, with Sutton aiming a dig at Cantwell by labelling him ‘TikTok’

The penalty was subsequently converted by Rangers skipper James Tavernier, and Philippe Clement’s men managed to earn a 3-3 draw in a thrilling encounter that kept them a point behind Celtic with a game in hand.

The match ended with a scuffle between the two sets of players after the final whistle, which appeared to be sparked by Todd Cantwell and Callum McGregor shoving each other.

Sutton watched the confrontation play out and proceeded to refer to Cantwell as ‘TikTok’, as he aimed another dig at the Rangers winger after accusing him of spending too much time on social media earlier in the season and claiming his career had been ‘bang average’.

Rangers and Cantwell will now have the chance to return to the top of the table when they play their game in hand away at Dundee on Wednesday night.