Rangers submit appeal over Jose Cifuentes red card against Dundee

Rangers have submitted an appeal against the red card shown to Jose Cifuentes against Dundee and hope he will be freed to play in the Viaplay Cup final.

The Ecuador midfielder was dismissed in the first half of Rangers’ match at Ibrox on Saturday for a challenge on Dundee’s Amadou Bakayoko on the half way line.

Match referee Kevin Clancy had originally shown a yellow card but was invited to review his decision by VAR Stevie Kirkland and, after watching replays of the tackle, changed the decision to a red card.

That means Cifuentes is currently suspended for Sunday’s Viaplay Cup final against Aberdeen, when the first silverware of the season is contested.

Rangers now hope that when an independent panel considers the appeal on Tuesday, they overrule Clancy’s final decision and allow manager Philippe Clement to select Cifuentes in his cup final squad.

Speaking after the game, Clement had said he would review the incident before making a call on an appeal.

He said: “I’ve not seen the images back. Jose told me he lost the ball and wanted to win it back.

“He wanted to block the ball but the other guy is a split second faster and tackles through the ball, there’s contact.

“Jose tries to avoid it, he didn’t go through it, so I want to see things back to have a clear and good opinion so we can make an assessment in the next few days (on a possible appeal).”