Rangers have asked the Scottish Football Association to hand over the VAR audio relating to their controversial penalty flashpoint during the Old Firm defeat to Celtic.

Philippe Clement's side were denied a spot-kick when Alastair Johnston clearly punched the ball out of play while under pressure from Abdallah Sima late in the first half.

And the Rangers Review can reveal that the Ibrox board have now asked the SFA for the full audio conversation between referee Nick Walsh and VAR Willie Collum to be sent to them.

Rangers are seeking clarity as to why no penalty was awarded despite the handball and to understand the process behind that decision being made. The rationale was not made public to the supporters at Parkhead or those watching on Sky Sports at the time and it was not explained to Clement and his staff on the touchline either.

A Rangers spokesperson said: “Rangers have asked the Scottish FA to make the VAR audio available to the club to understand why no penalty was awarded despite a clear handball by Celtic’s Alastair Johnston. 

“The club is keen to understand the process that led to that decision being made as it was not made public at the time, nor communicated to our team.

“We also understand Sky, as the league’s official broadcaster, is deeply unhappy and confused with the situation. Their panel spent half-time in agreement Rangers should have been awarded a penalty, unaware of any offside check. Again, this only surfaced in the second half.

“Rangers remains advocates of VAR, but there must be significantly more transparency for it to be successful in Scotland.”

The match was restarted with a goal kick from Celtic keeper Joe Hart and no offside decision was made clear to those in the stadium or watching on television until the VAR image was presented several minutes later.

Rangers have now asked for the communication from the incident to be made available to the club. It is highly unlikely that the audio will be released to the public and Rangers have not requested that it is done so.

Clement's side were behind to a Paulo Bernardo strike at the time of the Sima incident and a Kyogo effort after the interval doubled Celtic's lead. James Tavernier scored a stunning free-kick late on but it wasn't enough as the visitors, who had Leon Balogun sent off, were unable to mount a dramatic comeback on a day where Walsh was at the centre of attention.

Clement said: "First, there is no communication towards me. Second, if that was the communication… I am not a referee but I think the clear signal is then [for] VAR and offside. That is the decision that everybody knows what happened.

"There was no communication about that in that moment. I don’t believe that. Otherwise, the signal of the referee is not correct. There is a mistake, it is clear to everybody. OK, it is what it is. I also make mistakes. But it is an expensive one today."