BRENDAN Rodgers described Hearts striker Steven MacLean as ‘stupid’ for grabbing the testicles of Eboue Kouassi.

It has been suggested the SFA compliance officer will review footage of the incident which happened in the 24th minutes of Celtic’s League Cup semi-final at Murrayfield.

And MacLean, who described it as being a part of football, could face a two-match ban as an act directed towards the private parts of a player on the field is now being considered an act of "brutality".

Rodgers said: “I haven’t seen that since Vinnie Jones on Paul Gascoigne. It was a stupid thing to do – he was probably a bit emotional at the time, he’d been booked at the start of the game so he was probably fired up. We didn’t make any comment on it; it’ll be up to others to deal with it.

“Personally, I just don’t think there’s any need for it. You see all sorts of things going on – people standing on someone’s toes, tugging their shirts, whatever. The world’s changing anyway so we’ve nothing to say about it.

“I didn’t play long enough for that to happen to me but I was stamped on once during a youth international and that was sore; in fact, I can still feel it!”

After the match, MacLean, 36 said: "It was just a laugh, just a coming together. If I went down every time a centre-half niggled me, I would be on my backside all day. It was just handbags."

Even if the SFA said the Hearts player had a case to answer, it is likely he would still be available of Wednesday’s derby against Hibernian at Tynecastle.