BILEL MOHSNI feared his career was over after he was handed a seven-match ban for punching Lee Erwin.

The Tunisian was involved in an infamous flashpoint at the end of Rangers’ Premiership play-off defeat to Motherwell three years ago.

Mohsni has returned to Scottish football after agreeing a move to Dundee United and admits his moment of madness at Fir Park has cast a long shadow over him.

He said: “The manager at Rangers said he was sacking me but I was out of contract anyway.

“He didn’t help me. When he joined he put me straight out of the team and when I came back from international duty I missed the first leg of the play-off.

“I was frustrated and then he put me on with ten minutes to go when we were 6-1 down, what was I going to do? Am I Superman who was going to score six goals? So I was very frustrated with Stuart McCall.

“At the end, Motherwell won so they should have celebrated with their fans but instead he came at me, swore at me and told me to shake hands.

“I wanted to go to the changing room to speak to the manager and the chairman to see if I was getting another contract. But he pushed me and hit me, so I reacted.

“I didn’t think properly, I know that, and all the way from Glasgow to Paris in my car I knew I had made a big mistake.

“I thought to myself ‘maybe football is over for me.’ I was lucky to find a club in France but then they gave me the big ban and I couldn’t play.

“After that the international manager told me I had to play so I went on loan to get games but my fitness was miles away.

“People don’t know that I had teams in the English Premier League wanting me but after what happened at Motherwell that was finished.”

Mohsni spent time on the books of Angers and Paris FC before returning to his homeland with Etoile du Sahel.

He has agreed a deal at Tannadice until the end of the campaign but his moment of madness has never left him.

Mohsni said: “It has hung over me. I went to France and that prevented me from playing.

“I was training every Saturday on my own because I couldn’t play and because of it I lost my place in the national team.

“Because I wasn’t playing I didn’t get to play in the African Nations Cup.

“What happened was a mistake and I know it was wrong, but they nearly banned me from football over it.

“I have never forgotten. It has always been on my mind.”