Ally McCoist slaughters 'mental' Rangers penalty call he insists was as bad as Champions League performance

Ally McCoist has slammed the decision to award Union Saint Gilloise a penalty against Rangers, insisting the call was as bad as his former club’s display.

The Light Blues’ Champions League group stage hopes are under serious threat after a 2-0 third qualifying round first leg defeat in Belgium. Goals from Teuma and Dante Vanzeir in each half have given the hosts something to hold on to at Ibrox next week, leaving Gio van Bronckhorst’s men with a mountain to climb in their bid to progress and face Monaco or PSV.

While McCoist accepts that Rangers were miles off the pace and deserved to leave with nothing, it was the decision to award a penalty for the potentially decisive second goal that sticks in his craw just as much as the pitiful performance, The ball ricocheted off new signing Ben Davies and struck Connor Goldson’s hand in the box from point blank range.

A VAR check was initiated, and despite many being sure referee Irfan Peljto would see sense, the ref pointed to the spot even after seeing the incident again on the monitor. Vanzeir converted, leaving the Gers with all sorts of work to do at Ibrox to turn the tie around.

And McCoist, who described the call as “mental,” believes those in the VAR studio need to have an understanding of the game to ensure such decisions are correct, even with the help of video technology. He told TalkSport: “It was an absolutely terrible decision; as bad as Rangers’ performance. I have to balance it and say Rangers were really poor and didn’t deserve to take anything out of the game,

“But that’s what really annoys me about VAR. Are these people for real? You’re looking at it and who in their right mind thinks that’s a penalty? It’s important that you have people who are making