Bobby Madden clears up VAR confusion surrounding Celtic’s penalty vs Dundee

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Normally when a referee is sent to a monitor for any decision, Celtic fans would expect it to be given whether it’s a red card or a penalty.

Nine times out of ten when a referee is told to review at the VAR monitor, what has been flagged is normally given.

But for Celtic at Dundee, when referee Matthew MacDermid was called to the monitor to review a handball for a possible Hoops penalty, the complete opposite happened.

The match day referee thought a Dundee defender had handled the ball from a shot by Celtic’s Reo Hatate and after VAR review the original penalty award was rescinded.

So why didn’t VAR just tell MacDermid that the decision to award Celtic the penalty was wrong? Why did they send MacDermid to the monitor?

Former SFA referee Bobby Madden explains why.

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Bobby Madden explains why VAR couldn’t directly strike Celtic’s penalty vs Dundee off

The VAR check on the penalty took an age and whilst the very first look back at the incident showed clearly there wasn’t a handball, why did the process take so long?

Madden said on Instagram, “Heart in mouth moment for Dundee. Need to give VAR credit, that’s why it’s there.

“Player takes a risk putting his hands up there but no penalty for that. Easy to see why it’s given live. No harm done.

“The review is required. The final decision for penalties sits with the referee. Unlike handball prior to a goal which is considered factual.

“Accuracy over speed would be the argument. Suppose they need to check it didn’t hit the arm after the face as it would have been punishable.”

The penalty incident is a side show on what Celtic’s biggest on-field problem is

Forget the penalty, the way Celtic were playing against Dundee, whoever took it would probably have missed anyway.

Looking at what is on the park, the players Rodgers had at his disposal should have been enough to beat Dundee at Dens Park.

The Celtic boss needs to look at getting a tune out of them for not only Sunday against Hearts, but Thursday in the Europa League.

Because if he can’t, then the microscope the fans have on the Celtic board right now will start to shift his way.