Mark Clattenburg’s crystal clear stance over big Celtic penalty shout vs Aberdeen

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Mark Clattenburg has delivered his verdict after online debates surrounding a missed Celtic penalty at Aberdeen continued today.

VAR appears to have caused more Celtic controversy as the video referee failed to spot a possible Aberdeen red after a stamp on Kieran Tierney’s foot.

And now, it appears a Celtic penalty award may have been missed after a Sebastian Tounekti cross struck the arm of an Aberdeen defender, but Clattenburg says the arm was in a ‘natural position’.

What do you think is the main reason behind Kieran Tierney’s goalscoring form this season?

How many goals do you think he will score?

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• READ MORE: Celtic boss Martin O’Neill admits Rangers worry after confusing Dane Murray ‘eye’ reports

Mark Clattenburg admits he would be ‘surprised’ if Celtic got handball penalty

The footage in the tweet shows the Aberdeen defender’s arm slightly away from his body, but the former FIFA referee doesn’t believe it was enough to award the spot kick.

Clattenburg told 67 Hail Hail, “Sebastian Tounekti’s cross hits a defenders arm inside the penalty area.

“However, the defenders arm is in a natural position and therefore not making his body bigger, so I was not surprised that a penalty was not given.”

So has Clattenburg got it right, or does IFAB say otherwise?

The IFAB handball rule and why Celtic were actually denied a penalty

As always, the handball rule causes so much confusion not just among Celtic supporters, but for football fans in general.

So here, we decided to look at IFAB Law 12 and see if Clattenburg was on the money with his Celtic penalty verdict:

• deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball
• touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised
• scores in the opponents’ goal:
  • directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper
  • immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental

Looking at the footage from the tweet above, most Celtic fans will probably, and grudgingly, accept that the referee and VAR may have gotten this one correct.