The hand of goad
Lustig hits back at Dons duo as Hoops ace insists he was winding up McInnes and not Ferguson
MIKAEL LUSTIG last night hit back at claims he taunted Lewis Ferguson and insisted his fire was aimed squarely at Dons boss Derek McInnes.
The Celtic defender strongly refuted claims from the Aberdeen manager and skipper Graeme Shinnie that he goaded Reds kid Ferguson during the closing stages of
his side’s Betfred Cup Final win. McInnes and Shinnie both slammed Lustig for winding up Ferguson in the closing stages at Hampden.
Lustig has denied suggestions he was having a go at the 19-year-old. But the Swede did confess he was “screaming” at McInnes after the pair had a dingdong during the contest.
He began roaring in the direction of Ferguson in the final seconds after ref Andrew Dallas blew for a free-kick but said: “I thought it was the final whistle. I went to Ryan (Christie) because he had scored a really good goal.
“They thought I went to the young boy and maybe that is where the misunderstanding was.
“I was screaming at McInnes because we had a little bit of banter at a throw-in.
“It was banter and it was aimed at their manager.
“We play football and there are a lot of emotions. Sometimes you maybe are not happy about things after. But as I said it is all down to emotions and I’m not going to run out there just to be a nice boy.
“If they feel a little sad about it then I apologise.”
McInnes and Lustig exchanged views at full-time and the defender added: “When you play on the wing you are in front of the manager.
“Sometimes it is banter, sometimes the emotions run over and that is just football. It is nothing more.
“We talked on the pitch after the game but the conversation had started maybe 20 minutes earlier.”