What the Celtic bench said about the decision to rule out Daizen Maeda’s goal vs Hibs

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The VAR controversy rumbles on as the Celtic bench has their say on the Hibs decision.

So far, Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers has raged at the match officials as the Celtic manager shared his disbelief at the decision.

Chris Sutton and Kris Boyd know exactly who Celtic should blame for the call as the Sky pundits agreed with Rodgers that the officials ‘guessed’ at the decision.

BBC pundit Pat Nevin spotted what the linesman did just before Daizen Maeda tucked home what he thought was the equaliser as the assistant referee started to raise his flag but decided against it.

And now, it’s the turn of the Celtic squad who were in the Easter Road dugout as Callum McGregor shares what they told him about Maeda equaliser.

• READ MORE: What the SFA have said about Celtic’s disallowed goal vs Hibs

Celtic bench ‘convinced’ Daizen Maeda’s goal vs Hibs should have stood

As all eyes were on the VAR team, McGregor says that the Celtic bench did not need convincing about whether or not the goal should have stood.

McGregor told The Sunday Post [print edition page 67], “Were we surprised the goal did not stand? Yes, absolutely.

“We’ve seen all the angles and from what we have seen of them it is a big call to overturn the on-field decision of the referee and the linesman.

“Certainly, the bench was convinced it was a goal. That is part of the game. People make mistakes and you have to accept it and get on with it.”

Callum McGregor points out ‘the good thing’ that will come out of Celtic controversy

Whilst the players are disappointed by the defeat and the circumstances surrounding the loss, McGregor is adamant that the Celtic players will take the good from it and learn lessons.

McGregor continued, “The players know how demanding the league is and what you’ve got to do to win it.

“The good thing is we’ve been here before and we understand what it takes.

“As always after a defeat you have to take stock and take your medicine a little bit and find out where you went wrong.”

Thankfully, the bigger picture in terms of the title run-in is that the gap at the top of the table wasn’t closed as Rangers lost against St Mirren at Ibrox.

However, with a treble still to play for, would the fallout be worse if this decision happened in the upcoming Scottish Cup fixture against Hibs?