RAGING Brendan Rodgers accused VAR of guesswork after Daizen Maeda’s crucial strike was ruled out in Celtic’s 2-1 defeat against Hibs at Easter Road this afternoon.
The champions are still 13 points ahead after St Mirren won 2-0 at Ibrox, but the Hoops boss was left frustrated by the controversial decision to wipe out what would have been the equalising goal in Edinburgh.
Following an error-strewn first-half in which they conceded two shockers to Josh Campbell, the Parkhead side battled back into the contest with a 68th-minute effort from Maeda.
The side, bolstered by three substitutions at the interval with Filipe Jota, Reo Hatate and Filipe Jota coming on, thought they had levelled in the 83rd minute when the Japanese speedster thumped in a rebound after a cross from the byline by Alistair Johnston.
MOMENT OF IMPACT…Alistair Johnston prepares to send over the cross for the goal that was controversially ruled out by VAR.
Referee Steven McLean awarded the goal and his standside assistant agreed with the match official.
However, Celtic’s celebrations were halted when VAR interrupted proceedings. After a lengthy review, the technicians ruled the ball had been out of play before the Canadian whipped over his cross.
Camera angles proved inconclusive as to whether the whole of the ball had been out of play and Rodgers fumed: “My take is that the official Alan Muir has had a guess at it.
“The linesman arguably has the best view in the stadium and he doesn’t give it.
“So, for that to get overturned, I am assuming there is an absolute clear image of the ball being out of play. In my experience up here with VAR, you don’t have all the angles and they don’t have the equipment to say it was conclusively out.
“So, you are actually viewing it from a secondary position and at that point you are then having a guess. That is the huge disappointment. There’s nothing on the goal-line, it’s a camera from the 18-yard line.
VAR-CICAL…Brendan Rodgers makes a point to the linesman after the ‘no goal’ decision.
“To have the linesman overruled was disappointing because we get to 2-2 and there’s still a good time for us to finish off and win the game.
“Certainly, I haven’t seen any conclusive evidence that the ball was definitely out.”
Reflecting on the game, Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “We’re clearly disappointed with the result. In the first-half, we got off to a really poor start.
“That gives them an up in the game and gets the crowd behind the team. We were a little bit rusty I felt in our decision-making with the ball.
“And then, obviously, we conceded a really poor second goal right on half-time, so that was a disappointment.”
The Hoops gaffer added: “We had enough pressure in the second-half, we got into some really good areas, we get the goal that gives you that feeling in the game and then we continued with that.
“A few times around the edge of the box, we could have been a little bit cleaner.”
Rodgers now has to get the team back on track for the visit of Aberdeen on Tuesday evening.
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