Footage has emerged which shows VAR appeared to miss a potential penalty incident as Celtic tried to maintain their Champions League status last night.
Celtic’s short-lived Champions League adventure came to an end after losing to RB Leipzig on Tuesday, leaving them winless in Group F. They will now be aiming for a spot in the Europa League with a last-16 spot now out of reach.
The Bhoys only have themselves to blame, having squandered numerous big chances, including Kyogo Furuhashi missing a free header in the first half which would’ve put them in the lead – however, some fans may point to a VAR howler as the reason behind their exit.
With the score at 1-0, Giorgos Giakoumakis looked destined to fire home from close range (3:41) only for him to be seemingly pulled back by Benjamin Henrichs – something VAR deemed not to be worthy of a penalty.
Should this have been a penalty?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on this incident missed by VAR:
While Celtic and their fans will know that the chances they missed should have been buried and could have seen them take a positive result from last night’s game, this decision will certainly have some supporters angered and aggrieved.
With the score at 1-0, a penalty would’ve handed them a chance to get back on level terms, energised the crowd and potentially pushed them on to claim a draw or even all three points.
It does indeed look like quite a blatant tug of Giakoumakis’ arm just as he is about to make contact with the ball, which stops him from getting a clean strike away, so we feel Celtic have every right to feel hard done by on this call.