Brendan Rodgers doesn’t think the goal Kilmarnock scored in Celtic’s 3-1 Scottish Premiership victory should have stood due to a foul on defender Greg Taylor.
Taylor was in the opposition half and looking to get in behind the Killie defence when he was hauled down.
It looked like a clear foul but it was missed by the referee and went unreviewed by the VAR team after the away side scored from the subsequent passage of play.
Rodgers was delighted with the win and his team’s performance but was asked about the goal in his BBC Sportsound interview. He made it clear he thought an error had been made.
The Bhoys boss said: “I don’t think it was a goal. In fairness to the referee, he has his back to the play, he doesn’t see it, the ball gets switched.
“If you watch it from the beginning of the move, the young Kilmarnock player has Greg Taylor in a holding position. As soon as he swivels to go in behind he is brought to the floor.
“The referee didn’t quite see it, however, he has a fourth official and a VAR team that are assessing it. I’m not sure where they were looking from. I hear they were looking from when the young guy played the ball out to their striker but the actual foul was before that.
“Lo and behold they go up the other end and go into the space that Greg has left. We were disappointed with that but it’s one of those things.”
A number of high-profile incidents recently have put VAR back in the spotlight and it’s only right that managers call out obvious errors. VAR, for me, has not functioned in the way it should here.
Rodgers isn’t a manager who criticises officials often but he clearly feels that Celtic should’ve been aided by the review team here. He’s correct to point it out and nobody can accuse of him of sour grapes after a strong victory against the Ayrshire outfit.
If we have VAR in place, it has to be accurate.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers lauds “outstanding” Celtic star after Killie win.
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