'It's humans out there': Rangers and Celtic condemn serious Old Firm incident as player 'lucky' to avoid injury

The Belgian was struck by the object at the corner of Broomloan Stand and Sandy Jardine Stand and required treatment from Celtic medics before being allowed to continue.

A statement from Rangers read: “Rangers FC condemns this incident in the strongest possible terms. The club can confirm it will assist Police Scotland in its investigations.”

The incident was a sour note on an otherwise impressive day for Rangers, who were comfortable and deserved 3-0 winners over their Glasgow rivals as they trimmed the gap to 11 points on their league-leading rivals.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers reported that Engels is fine after the incident, but that it narrowly missed hitting his eye. “An inch lower, he would have been right in the eye,” said Rodgers. “But, yes, I think he's okay. It's not obviously great for the game, but, yes, he's okay.”

Engels’ teammate Alistair Johnston was also quick to hit out at the treatment of the Celtic youngster. “I saw that Engels got hit just about the eye, and it's an unfortunate situation,” said Johnston. “We're just lucky that it didn't hit him right in the eye. No other comment right now.

“I've played in some other places in Central America where they throw more than coins at you. You feel pretty safe here. Ideally you don't want anything thrown on the pitch. The words and chants are one thing, you get through that. But you just hope everyone respects the players on the pitch no matter who they play for.

“I wasn't aware [of anything else being thrown] but it's something that unfortunately happens. If that hits him in the eye then it's probably a pretty serious matter but I would just caution everyone to be smart. It's humans out there, someone's son, so let's refrain from chucking things at guys' heads.”