Steven Gerrard has expressed his opinion on the incident that led to Rangers midfielder, Joe Aribo, requiring 20 stitches in a nasty head wound, and he isn’t happy according to The Daily Mail.
In his pre-match press conference for the fixture against Aberdeen at the weekend the Gers gaffer said:
????️ SG: He will definitely miss the game at the weekend and potentially the next few after this. I don’t think the player has gone in to intentionally hurt him but that in my book is serious dangerous play and in any other league it is a red card.
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) September 26, 2019
Livingston manager, Gary Holt, claimed that Filip Helander and Rangers had “got away with one” when he wasn’t sent off after a clash with Livi forward, Lyndon Dykes. Gerrard took umbrage to this given the severity of the injury to Aribo, suggesting Ricki Lamie was lucky not to walk via The Sun:
“…that is serious foul play because he has led with the elbow and Joe has been caught. Unfortunately he will be missing for a short while with 20 stitches in his forehead but it is what it is”.
With the potential for Aribo to now be missing for a few weeks with Rangers having a packed fixture schedule, fans took to Twitter to express their rage at the incident that went unpunished from the referee during the game.
That’s as serious as it gets… Aribo could have been seriously injured. You could see the red mist descending, how no one spotted that’s a clear red is beyond me.
— A’dammer 1872 (@arthur_mac74) September 26, 2019
Imagime the meltdown if it had been the reverse and our player went unpunished…(as if)
— Gers455 (@john402209) September 26, 2019
Poor guy will probably miss the chance to play against brazil now because of some hammer thrower
— tony mac watson (@gorbalstony) September 26, 2019
Disgraceful conduct on the pitch. Thuggery that was described by BT pundit as ‘robust’.
— Every Saturday We Follow ???? (@1872StevieC) September 26, 2019
Imagine Morelos had even attempted that sort of challenge.
— D A Z ???????? (@DarrenCaw) September 26, 2019
Come on Stevie, wisen up. Not only has he gone in to hurt Aribo, but he tried to do Morelos as well…
— Callum✨ (@xCDMM) September 26, 2019