Manager Martin O’Neill said after the match: “I’ve just had a word with the referee. He said he was going to just have a word with the two players then VAR intervened and said it was violent conduct.

“You can’t do this if that’s the rules now. It doesn’t matter if someone is holding on to you. You can’t, in an attempt to break away, you can’t thrust down in the manner in which he did.”

And Celtic captain Callum McGregor commented: “To win a title you need a lot of things to fall for you, you need good decisions. Obviously, the one on Sunday, in my opinion, is a bad decision.

“Auston probably gives them the chance to send him off but I think if we’re all honest, that happens in every single corner kick, free-kick in the game, has been for the last 150 years.

“To send him off for that, we may as well all go up the road and stop playing football if that’s going to be a red card every single week.”

Hibs head coach David Gray said: “You can’t lift your hands with that aggression. That’s violent conduct and a clear and obvious red.”