CELTIC should discover today the outcome of their appeal of Yang Hyun-jun’s ludicrous red card against Hearts at Tynecastle at the weekend.
The South Korean winger was booked by referee Don Robertson for an accidental high-boot challenge on defender Alex Cochrane early on in the controversial 2-0 loss.
VAR assistant John Beaton instructed the match official to review the incident on his touchline monitor and the yellow card was scrapped in favour of red and it was game over for Yang with the champions left to play the remaining 80 minutes with 10 men.
SEEING RED…Yang Hyun-jun’s boot comes in contact with Alex Cochrane as he attempts to flick the ball over the Hearts defender’s head. The accidental clash led to the South Korean winger being dismissed after a VAR review.
It was just one of several perplexing decisions made in the collusion of both the on and off-field officials and the Hoops hierachy have been forced to take action to register their concern.
In a statement yesterday, the Parkhead outfit made their feelings clear as they said: “Celtic Football Club can confirm that it will be appealing the red card issued to Hyunjun Yang during Sunday’s match against Hearts at Tynecastle.
“We have also written to the SFA to raise our serious concerns regarding the use of VAR and the decisions made within the match.
“As we have said before, for some time Celtic has sought to work with the footballing authorities with the aim of improving standards associated with refereeing and the use of VAR in Scotland, something which is clearly in the wider interests of everyone within the game.”
The visitors were on the receiving end of another bewildering decision as half-time approached with the game deadlocked at 0-0.
Tomoki Iwata and Alistair Johnston challenged Stephen Kinglsey for a misdirected header out of defence by Liam Scales. The ball broke to the hosts who quickly raided on the left through Alan Forrest with the winger’s cross being cleared by Cameron Carter-Vickers.
SPOT OF BOTHER…the ball brushes against the arm of Tomoki Iwata as Alistair Johnston joins in to challenge Stephen Kinglsey. VAR assistant John Beaton believed the incident deserved a second look and referee Don Robertson duly obliged before his shocking penalty-kick decision.
There was not a solitary claim for a penalty-kick from the home side’s players and Robertson and everyone else prepared to get on with the game until there was a preposterous intervention by eagled-eyed Beaton sitting in front of the multi-screens in Glasgow.
He flagged up that the ball had brushed the arm of Iwata and the whistler was invited to take another look. Ridiculously, he returned to the pitch to award Hearts a spot-kick which Jorge Grant gratefully accepted to score the opener.
It is worth making the point that VAR interrupted the match on both occasions when there was no “clear and obvious” error by Robertson.
Now we await the reaction from the SFA to Celtic’s concerns.
VAR-CICAL: WHEN THE BOOT IS ON THE OTHER FOOT
