Celtic were made to work hard for their three points this afternoon with their 2-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Brendan Rodgers was delighted with Celtic’s win at Kilmarnock after the Hoops boss made two changes to the team that beat RB Leipzig midweek.
Goals from Callum McGregor and Nicolas Kuhn sealed the win to ensure the three points went back up the road to Glasgow to return Celtic to the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
However, there was a little bit of controversy late on after Reo Hatate ran the risk of a red card after a high boot challenge against a Kilmarnock midfielder.
Match referee Nick Walsh and the VAR team adjudged the challenge to be a yellow card and that decision incensed Sky Sports’, Kris Boyd.
Kris Boyd delivers red card rant over Celtic hero Reo Hatate
Boyd was fuming that Hatate stayed on the pitch and went on a rant about the Celtic midfielder getting away with staying on the pitch.
Boyd told Sky Sports, “It’s a red card all day long. See in terms of force and because he turns around and says, sorry, you can’t catch a player that far up the leg and turn around and say sorry and get away with it.
“He catches him right on the top of the leg, just below the knee, just below the knee. It is impossible not to be sent off.
“So the referee gets it wrong on the pitch, and then Don Robertson goes and gets it wrong in the VAR room. That is a red card all day long.
“Reo Hatate was outstanding on Tuesday night. Outstanding. That is a red card. I mean, whether Brendan Rodgers [thinks it is or not], it does not matter, That is a red card. In that isolated incident, that is a red card all day long.
“And as I said, Nick Walsh has called it wrong on the pitch. But even worse, Don Robinson has got it wrong on the VAR machine. That’s a problem.”
Derek McInnes’ verdict on Reo Hatate’s possible Celtic red card
How many times did Boyd say red card in that rant? The former Rangers striker was so sure that Hatate should have been sent off, you would have to assume the Kilmarnock boss would have been raging, right?
After Boyd’s rant, Derek McInnes was asked what he thought of the challenge on Hatate and to be fair to the Kilmarnock manager, his response was a lot more measures.
McInnes said, “Do you know. at the time, I thought it was quite high. I didn’t think there was a lot of force in it.
“And when it goes to VAR, sometimes when you see a picture, I’m sure the pictures wouldn’t have looked good,
“But in terms of actual force, I’m not sure it was exactly a red card, to be honest. So obviously, we would take that, because I think we’ve been victims that had a lot, but sometimes you don’t get these wee breaks against a team like Celtic.
“But I didn’t think there was a lot of force on it. I didn’t think it was a bad tackle.”
Calm rational thinking is what the referees and the VAR guys applied to that decision. It is clear that the match officials saw Hatate pull out of the challenge as the Celtic midfielder knew he wasn’t getting near the ball.
Calm. Rational. Thinking. When it comes to Celtic, Kris Boyd really should try it sometime.
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