Celtic: Scott Brown blames Dundee Utd's Nadir Ciftci for kick

Nadir Ciftci and Scott Brown exchanged words at Tannadice

Celtic captain Scott Brown has accused Dundee United striker Nadir Ciftci of deliberately kicking him in the head during Sunday's Scottish Cup tie.

He also believes United forward Aidan Connolly dived to earn a penalty in the 1-1 quarter-final draw.

But Brown insists that his own challenge on Ciftci was a fair one.

"I was kicked in the head," he said, suggesting retaliation from the Turk. "You can blatantly see that. We will see what happens with that."

United have appealed against a red card shown to midfielder Paul Paton, while Celtic have challenged the sending off of defender Virgil van Dijk in the aftermath of that incident.

And the Scottish FA compliance officer has until Tuesday to decide whether to take further action against any other players involved.

"I think it was a great tackle," said Brown, speaking ahead of Sunday's Scottish League Cup final between the two sides.

"The referee is five yards away and he had no problem with it.

"The linesman was 10 yards away and two of them had great views and you can clearly see on television that I have won the ball."

However, Brown conceded that Paton was wrongly sent off and suggests that the introduction of video evidence at games would have cleared a lot of the confusion up.

Anthony Stokes' challenge on United's Aidan Connolly led to a penalty kick at Tannadice

"I think yesterday would have been ideal for it," he said.

"We stopped the game for four or five minutes and, if we had watched that back, we would have clearly seen who it was."

Brown reiterated manager Ronny Deila's view that Anthony Stokes did not foul Connolly for the penalty.

"It was a blatant dive," said Brown. "I was close by. Anthony put his leg in, but you can see that he has pulled his leg away before the lad has gone down.

"He played it really well. I will give him that."

Brown would not say if Connolly should face retrospective punishment but pointed back to Celtic midfielder Derk Boerrigter's two-match ban for simulation at the start of the season.

"We have had a player who did that at St Johnstone and he got a two-match ban, so I think it was dealt with rightly," he said.

"You don't want to see people cheating whether it helps you or not. It is not a nice part of the game."

Brown did not think the match, in which United's Paul Dixon was also sent off, would result in bad blood between the sides at Hampden.

"It was both teams wanting to win and I think that is good for the Scottish game," he said.

"As soon as you step on to the park, it is a clean slate."