Celtic

Celtic: Journalist blasts decision to give Matt O’Riley yellow card for penalty

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Image for Celtic: Journalist blasts decision to give Matt O’Riley yellow card for penalty

Celtic podcaster and journalist Ryan McGinlay expressed his shock after Matt O’Riley was awarded a yellow card when he gave away a penalty kick against Real Madrid.

Ange Postecoglou’s side travelled to the Santiago Bernabeu and found themselves on the receiving end of a 5-1 defeat.

Los Blancos were in the mood and received two penalties in the first period for handballs in the area, which Luka Modric and Rodrygo converted.

Josip Juranovic then missed from the spot himself after half an hour as he failed to reduce the Hoops’ deficit. 

They were put to the sword in the second period before a moment of brilliance from the returning Jota over a free-kick gave the travelling support something to shout about.

However, while the Celts were made to accept two penalty decisions that were always going to be given with VAR around, journalist McGinlay slammed the yellow card given to O’Riley for the second spot-kick.

With Rodrygo’s skewed shot heading well off target, it came off the arm of the Bhoys’ midfielder – and the decision left McGinlay fuming.

He wrote on Twitter: “I don’t understand how that’s a yellow card for O’Riley?

“It’s not as if it’s intentional?”

TIF Thoughts on O’Riley and Celtic…

Is Jota Celtic's best player?

Yes!

Yes!

No!

No!

Moments after receiving the caution, the Dane did well to maintain his composure after arguably being wrongly judged to have fouled Toni Kroos, which could have resulted in a second yellow.

However, along with his teammates, he experienced the brilliance of a rampant Real side, with Celtic powerless to match the might of the current Champions League holders.

We feel that O’Riley was hard done by to have received a yellow in the game like McGinlay, but ultimately, it meant little by way of the result – although this should be a steep learning curve for Postecoglou’s side and they could well be back to give the competition another crack next season.

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