STEVEN Gerrard has insisted that Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos was fouled before he was yellow carded in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final replay against Aberdeen at Ibrox on Tuesday night.

Rangers lost their appeal against the booking he was shown in the first-half of the last eight tie following a challenge by Aberdeen defender Andrew Considine.

However, Gerrard, whose team lost the game 2-0 to crash out of the competition, was adamant the Glasgow club were correct to challenge the decision by referee Kevin Clancy.

“It’s a foul,” he said. “There might have been an over exaggeration in terms of the reaction to the foul. But it was a foul. We’ve analysed it very closely and it’s a foul.”

Morelos had his one match ban - he had been booked for diving in the first quarter-final match at Pittodrie - reinstated meaning he will miss the first Scottish Cup game of next season if he is still a player at Rangers.