Ropey Rangers referee copped six-month ban for penalty blindspot Ibrox figures fear has just been repeated
Bosnian blunder ref Irfan Peljto was banned for six months by his own football association earlier this season for a hat-trick of mistakes in one game, which included not giving two penalties.
Barry Ferguson was seething after the whistler denied what the Rangers boss felt were two clear spot kicks during his side’s 2-0 Europa League quarter-final defeat to Athletic Club in Bilbao.
Neither Peljto nor his VAR team acted after Cyriel Dessers had his shirt pulled in the penalty box by Yeray Alvarez, while Gers also claimed there was an Athletic Bilbao handball that was missed when Nico Raskin hit the post in the second half.
Peljto has history with Rangers after awarding Belgian club Union St Gilloise a penalty three years ago in a Champions League qualifier for a controversial handball against Connor Goldson.
And he was also sidelined by his own Bosnian FA for an error-strewn disaster of a game in September this season.
The 40-year-old, who has been a FIFA ref for 10 years, was in the charge of a bitter derby between Zrinjski Mostar and Borac Banja. And in a scathing verdict, the Committee for Referees and Refereeing of the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina, confirmed that Peljto made three mistakes in the game, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
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According to their assessment, he failed to award a penalty for Borac and then missed a foul in the very next attack, which led to a goal for Zrinjski.
His final cock-up came when he failed to award a penalty to Zrinjski Mostar, which should have been given.
He was suspended for six games in the Bosnian league and the VAR officials for that game were all also handed six-game bans. The Bosnian FA statement explained: “In the 25th minute, the referee, although very well positioned and with a clear view of the incident, failed to recognise an obvious foul and award a penalty kick to FK Borac.
“In the 26th minute, the referee, although well positioned, failed to award a direct free kick for the away team after a clear foul which led to a goal for the home team
Meanwhile, Spanish superstar Nico Williams labelled Rangers a ‘great team’ after helping keep Athletic Bilbao’s Europa League dream alive.
The 22-year-old winger headed the key second goal and had an impressive game as Athletic edged out Rangers 2-0 in the quarter finals of the competition.
Rangers’ visit set a new attendance record for the San Mames ground with 52,114 inside the £180 million stadium, which will host the final.
And Spain’s Euro 2024 hero Williams was full of praise for Rangers’ efforts and the atmosphere.
He said: “Rangers are a great team that made things difficult for us at their stadium in the first leg and they were the same here.
“Fortunately, we took our energy from the fans who were our strength and we made it through.
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