Engels addresses Rangers vs Celtic coin-throwing incident

Receiving the unstinting support of his Celtic team mates in the wake of the sickening incident, though, has been among the best.

Celtic star Charly Musonda has opened up on the sickening moment he was struck by a coin during last week's Old Firm clash at Ibrox.

The Belgian was left battered and bruised after being hit by the missile during the closing stages of the fiery clash in Govan.

Speaking about the incident for the first time, Musonda admitted he was shocked by what happened and revealed his parents were left horrified as they watched the drama unfold on television at home.

He also hit out at the 'imbecile' responsible for throwing the coin and insisted there is no place for such behaviour in football.

“It shouldn't be happening,” he said. “You're on a football pitch and that needs to be a safe place.

“Of course, you have always got people that are saying things to you. That's normal, that's part of football. But throwing things is not really part of football for me. I think everybody can agree with that. It was really not nice.

“Of course, it's a shock when something goes onto your head. It was on my eyebrow, so it was really close to my eye. I was lucky that it was not on my eye.

“Of course, in the beginning, your first reaction is feeling if everything is okay. Is there blood or something? I did that and then it was okay for me. I stood up and just moved on. I was also the first one to say, ‘Just go on, don't think about it, it's okay’.

“My parents were at home, so they saw all the replays. It was not really nice for them to see. They were also a bit worried. But in the end it was okay. They also saw me moving on and playing those 10 minutes after it. It was okay and they knew that it was okay. But they were of course worried like every parent would be.

“They know how rivalries are. They know what it does to the fans and everything. But this is not something that is supposed to be inside football or in the stands. But they know that sometimes those things can happen. So they are already a long time into football, so it's not really a real shock.”

Musonda, who joined Celtic on loan from Chelsea in August, also revealed he has never experienced anything like it before and admitted he was fortunate to escape serious injury.

He added: “I haven’t really experienced that with coins before. Only with fireworks or with beer spilling over the players. It happens everywhere. But it's never nice to see a player get hit, even if it's a beer or a beer cup.

“It's never nice to see because it sometimes comes from so high in the stands and it goes with such a speed onto your head. Then it can cause real damage to your head. That's never nice to see.

“I only spoke to the police afterwards. They were investigating everything and said they would do everything to search for who it was and to then see what the next consequences are.

“From the Rangers side? I don't really know if I heard something, But it was okay. You need to move on. We have the next game tomorrow, so we need to focus on that and not really on the things besides football.”

However, Musonda stressed that he was buoyed by the way his fellow Celtic players rallied around him during his moment of need and expressed confidence that the closeness which exists in the Scottish champions’ squad will ultimately help them to lift a fourth consecutive title come May.

“They were lovely,” he said. “All the team mates here are so nice to me. They have each helped me in their own way. Integrating into the group after I joined was really easy for me because everybody was so kind and so open. That was easy for me.

“Also, in those kind of moments, you see that we are a team, that everybody is concerned about you and wants you to do good or wants you to be good. That's a really nice feeling that we have here in the dressing room.”

Musonda was unsurprised that Brendan Rodgers’ side responded to the derby defeat with a 3-0 triumph over St Mirren at Parkhead on Sunday that increased their lead over Rangers at the top of the table to 13 points. He is optimistic they can build on the result against Dundee United at home this evening.

“The Rangers game was not a really nice experience from the team,” he said. “Every time when you lose, you're disappointed, you're disappointed in yourself and in the team. We knew that we could do a lot of things better and we analysed it really well the next day so we knew that we needed to do better.

“I think we reacted really well in the next game