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Petrov admits to over-celebrating opener at Ibrox

Thursday 28 April 2005 00:00 BST
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The Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov admits he might have "over-celebrated" his opening goal in the 2-1 win at Rangers on Sunday.

The Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov admits he might have "over-celebrated" his opening goal in the 2-1 win at Rangers on Sunday.

The Bulgaria international was struck by a plastic cup thrown from the Copland Road stand at Ibrox after celebrating his 21st-minute header in front of Gers fans. The 25-year-old held his hand up in a conciliatory gesture but concedes his reaction to the goal might not have been appreciated by the Ibrox fans.

"Maybe I over-celebrated but, after that, I apologised to their fans and raised my hand to them," he said. "We work so hard during the week, you put so much into the game, this derby game, and, when you score you go mad.

"When you're hit by something, at first, you're shocked but, when I saw it was nothing serious, I just got on with the game."

Rangers' first-team coach Jan Wouters has signed a one-year extension to his contract with the club.

Elsewhere, the German FA (DFB) has said it will not fine the referee at the centre of the country's match-fixing scandal although he could still face a lifetime ban.

The DFB said its control committee had sought to make Robert Hoyzer pay 50,000 euros (£34,000) but dropped its demand after the chairman of the DFB's sport tribunal, Rainer Hoch, indicated he was unwilling to impose a fine.

Hoch had previously signalled that a lifetime ban was a sufficiently harsh punishment. The DFB accuses Hoyzer of having fixed or sought to fix five matches, including Bundesliga club Hamburg SV's loss to third division SC Paderborn in the first round of the German Cup. Berlin prosecutors are investigating 25 people, including three other referees and 14 players, who are suspected of having manipulated at least 10 matches in 2004.

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