DOLLY MENGA faces a two-game ban after the SFA offered him a suspension following a review of the flashpoint between the Livingston striker and Celtic midfielder Ryan Christie in the goalless draw on Sunday.
The Angolan international frontman escaped immediate punishment after aggressively thrusting his head into the face of the Hoops player as the champions prepared to defend a long throw-in from the right by Alan Lithgow in the 24th minute, an explosive incident highlighted in the CQN match report.
Neither referee Kevin Clancy nor his assistants spotted the crude movement, but the intimidating action was caught on TV cameras.
Menga, 25, will miss his side’s Premierships games against Sevco Rangers and Motherwell if he accepts the ban.
He will face a tribunal on Thursday if he rejects the decision.
Parkhead gaffer Brendan Rodgers said afterwards that he felt the Belgium-born forward should have been red-carded for his actions.
Christie, who signed a new three-year deal at the club yesterday, said the incident took him by surprise, as reported by CQN earlier today.
The Scotland international midfielder, in Alex McLeish’s squad for the UEFA Nations League ties against Albania on Saturday and Israel a week tonight, admitted: “We want to cut that kind of thing out of football completely and rightly so.
“There was no build up to it or anything like that, it just came out of nowhere.
“It took me by surprise and took me a few seconds to realise he had put the head on me.”
Menga was involved in a similar incident in the second-half at another deadball situation when he bundled Christie into the net as he guarded Scott Bain’s left-hand post.
Once again, the match official and his team failed to detect the movement.
