Rodgers wants answers after Celtic ‘equaliser’ is ruled out over VAR ‘guesswork’

CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has demanded hard evidence from the SFA that Daizen Maeda’s late equaliser at Hibs deserved to be chalked off after accusing VAR Alan Muir of making a game-changing call purely on guesswork.

The Japanese forward had got his side back into the game by scoring midway through the second period following Josh Campbell’s first-half brace for the hosts and looked like he’d earned a 2-2 draw when smashing the ball home after home keeper Jordan Smith had spilled a low Alistair Johnston cross.

However, despite Main Stand linesman David Roome having kept his flag down, VAR Muir intervened and advised referee Steven McLean to rule the goal out based on the ball having crossed the bye-line before Johnston put it in.

‘Obviously, I am disappointed with the goal that was disallowed as our momentum was high in that point of the game,’ said Rodgers.

VAR officials ruled the ball had gone out of play before McGregor’s cross

‘I’m hoping to see conclusive evidence that it (the ball) was out. The linesman, on this side, he had his flag up quite a lot today — but, for the goal, he clearly had one of the best views in the ground and he kept his flag down, which tells me that he felt it was in.

‘If it’s the case, then you’ve got to go and review it with VAR, but you’re taking an angle from the 18-yard line. If you’re taking the angle from the 18-yard line, and you can tell me that you can absolutely say 100 per cent (it was out), you’re having a guess.

‘These are big games to be guessing in, especially at this point in the season. So we were disappointed with that, and that’s what killed our momentum a little bit. I felt it was harsh on the team.

‘The linesman was in a great position, so it was disappointing to have the official overruled in that moment. We were in a great moment. We get to two-each, and we’ve still got enough time to go and find a winner.’

Rodgers spoke to referee McLean afterwards, but received little encouragement.

‘He just said afterwards that it was a VAR decision, that it was factually out, which will be interesting from the 18-yard line, if you don’t have the actual images,’ said Rodgers.

‘I don’t want to be overly critical until someone produces an actual piece of evidence that tells us the ball was conclusively out.’

Captain Callum McGregor was clear when asked if the Celtic players shared Rodgers’ surprise at Maeda’s goal being struck from the record.

‘Yes, absolutely. We’ve seen all the angles,’ he said. ‘The bench was convinced that it was a goal. The linesman didn’t put his flag up, so the on-field decision is a goal. From what we’ve seen then, it’s a big call to overturn.

‘That’s part of the game. People make mistakes and you have to accept it and get on with it.’

Rodgers admitted his players weren’t quite at the top of their game in the opening period —making three substitutes at half-time — but refused to be too critical in the wake of their outstanding display in pushing Bayern Munich all the way in midweek before going out of the Champions League 3-2 on aggregate.

‘Listen, these players have been brilliant. We’re disappointed with our start to the game,’ said Rodgers.

‘We conceded an awful goal. That gives the crowd something to hang on to. We had some good moments in the first half, but not too many.

Then we concede a disappointing goal right on half-time. We make the changes to try to regenerate the team and, in the second half, we were excellent.

Josh Campbell struck twice for Hibs as they defeated Celtic at Easter Road

‘We don’t want to have any excuses over fatigue, tiredness. You’re at a big club. You’ve got to playing through that. Today, we just weren’t quite on it.’

McGregor has also reiterated the need for the players to get back on the horse at home to Aberdeen on Tuesday night and keep the Premiership under control.

‘It’s a bad day at the office, but we have to dust ourselves off quickly,’ he said. ‘We have another game on Tuesday night and then another game at the weekend as well. We’re disappointed with the result and the performance but we’ve been here before.

‘We understand that you have to legislate for one of them every so often and we don’t have too many bad days.

‘We go down after a couple of minutes and if the tails get up, it gives them energy. Then, the stuff with the ball was a little bit passive. Credit to them, they played well, they had a good game plan and they got their goals at the right time.’