Former SFA referees deliver their verdict on two Celtic penalty flashpoints vs Motherwell

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It seems that refereeing controversy is not going to go away this season, especially after the fallout of Celtic’s League Cup win.

That game, or for accuracy, the decision to not award Rangers a penalty against Celtic has put the spotlight on match officials this season after VAR ruled that Liam Scales fouled Vaclav Cerny outside the penalty box inside Hampden.

The video referee has come into question again after Celtic were awarded, and denied, a penalty during the Bhoys’ win over Motherwell on Boxing Day.

Former SFA referees double verdict on Hyunjun Yang and Daizen Maeda’s Celtic penalty decisions

Former SFA referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy were asked about the decision to award Celtic a penalty after Hyunjun Yang was brought down by Motherwell goalkeeper Aston Oxborough.

Taking to social media channel X on their account, The Ref’s View, they stated, “Never a penalty kick.” Quite a strange conclusion to come to considering there was clear contact on Yang by the goalkeeper after the Hoops winger reached the ball first and VAR replays showed the contact.

The other decision the ex-referees gave their view on was the challenge on Daizen Maeda, where the Japanese attacker looked to get his head on the ball before a Motherwell defender’s late lunge caught the Celtic winger on the head.

After being asked about that on X, they both said, “We feel this is a penalty.” Again, this is strange in the fact that VAR checked this tackle and deemed it not worthy of a penalty even when contact was clear from the Motherwell players’ boot on Maeda’s head.

Controversial VAR decisions Celtic have dealt with this season

Celtic have had a number of VAR controversies to deal with this season as the Hoops remain front and centre in the battle for domestic honours.

As well as the penalty controversy in the League Cup final, VAR also failed to spot a red card Rangers should have had against Celtic after Jefte raked his studs down the back of Nicolas Kuhn’s ankle.

Celtic were also denied a penalty against Motherwell earlier this season after Maeda was clearly hauled down whilst almost clear through on goal.

Maeda also had a Celtic goal ruled out by VAR after the video ref appeared to have wrongly spotted an off-the-ball foul made by Hoops defender, Auston Trusty.

The point is, even though all these decisions have gone against Celtic, Brendan Rodgers has kept his counsel and did his talking on the park.

If other teams could do that then maybe, just maybe, the focus would remain on the football and not the sideshow that the league title race is turning out to be with the match officials taking centrestage.