Celtic captain Scott Brown has reacted to the shocking penalty decision from Willie Collum that led to a 1-1 draw at Parkhead today.
The Hoops were 1-0 ahead thanks to Moi Elyounoussi’s first-half header. Before Alfredo Morelos’ equaliser, Celtic would have several big opportunities to stretch their advantage.
One of those came when a ball made its way to Odsonne Edouard at the back post. Instead of shooting first-time, however, he decided to jink inside Barisic and force the contact.
Incredibly, Willie Collum booked Edouard for diving despite the fact he had no reason to. And Brown has provided his own reaction when speaking to Sky Sports Main Event post-match [13:59]:
“I think the first half we were exceptional. We could’ve had three or four and we had a penalty denied as well.
“It’s a stone-waller, there’s no need for Odsonne to go down. He cut inside and there’s contact. We seen it at half-time so it’s one of those ones you go in at half-time 2-0 up and it changes the game.
“We’ve had enough chances to win the game. I thought we were very good today for the whole 90 minutes.”
Scott Brown frustration understandable; Celtic got nothing from Willie Collum all day
For me it was a stone-waller. Is there minimal contact? Yes. Can Edouard stay on his feet? Perhaps. But we’ve seen a lot softer decisions given than that in the penalty area.
The fact is that Barisic is late with the challenge. Is Edouard to allow himself to be crunched in order to win the penalty? Surely the fact that the Rangers centre-back was late is all that matters. Surely that’s what instigates a foul in the first place?
Don’t get me wrong, Eddy should score. he has a great chance to hit it first-time. That’s what top strikers do – they bury opportunities in a split-second. Instead, the Frenchman decided to take more touches to try and create extra room.
But even so, that doesn’t matter. He should’ve been given a penalty kick as it’s a clear foul. You ask yourself whether that decision would’ve been given up the other end. Had Ianis Hagi or Joe Aribo been tripped like that in the Celtic penalty area, would Collum have given it?
After all, we’re talking about a whistler who’s given penalties against Celtic without ever seeing them. It was disappointing to see Edouard wasn’t given his, but hardly surprising.
Even if we have plenty of frailties to work on, you can understand the dressing room frustration.
In other news, we take a look at three things we learned from this afternoon’s game.
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