Footage from the most recent Celtic match shows that the referee may have made a big mistake after Reo Hatate was elbowed in the head.
On Saturday afternoon, the Bhoys travelled away from home and had to battle hard to pick up all three points in a 2-1 win against St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership.
Having taken the lead through an own goal via a deflected Sead Haksabanovic cross, Celtic were pegged back seemingly at the death when Alex Mitchell equalised. However, against all odds, in the 95h minutes of the match, Giorgos Giakoumakis then netted a winner.
Despite the dramatic win, things could have been much easier for the Hoops had the referee opted to pull out a red instead of a yellow card when opposition player Max Kucheriavyi caught Hatate with an elbow.
Replays of the incident show that it was a clear foul from the St Johnstone man and while it was spotted by the officials, it wasn’t deemed serious enough to warrant a dismissal.
TIF thoughts on Celtic and the incident…
Podcaster Ryan McGinlay noted the foul and was left baffled by the lack of punishment, writing on Twitter: “How is he still on the park? He elbows him!”. On top of that, the Daily Record called the challenge from Kucheriavyi ‘poor’.
Taking that into account, it’s safe to say the St Johnstone player was rather fortunate the referee didn’t choose to upgrade that yellow to a red – and with no VAR to intervene his decision was final.
Fortunately for Celtic, they still claimed the win but considering the late drama of the game – they only just managed to come away with all three points – things could have easily been very different. Had they failed to pick up the victory, this key decision may have stirred up even more controversy for the team currently top of the SPFL table.
Did you think it was a red card?
Yes
No
