Celtic blew the opportunity to go top of the league after a 2-0 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle this afternoon.
But to be fair to Brendan Rodgers‘ side, the defeat was helped along by some terrible VAR decisions that cost Celtic dear in the match.
A first-half red card for Hyunjun Yang left Celtic with ten men after just 16 minutes when the winger was adjudged to have committed a serious foul with a high boot connecting slightly with Hearts midfielder, Alex Cochrane.
Neil Lennon was fuming with the decision as the former Celtic boss delivered his verdict on the ‘awful’ red card.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Lennon said, “For me, this is the biggest moment of the half. You can debate that all you want with me Eilidh, but I can’t see that being a straight red card.
“He’s trying to flick the ball over [Alex] Cochrane’s head, Cochrane’s quite rightly going in to head the ball.
“But it’s just a flick. There’s no malice. I know it looks really bad when it’s slowed down but there’s no intent from Yang at all to hurt the player.
“I think it’s a shocking decision, I really do. A yellow card for me. It’s an awful decision.”
Kris Boyd’s awful take on Celtic red card
The Sky pundit wastes no time in stirring the pot as just before Barbour cuts to a break, Boyd chips in with this, “I never got the chance but I think the Yang one is a red card.”
His interruption sparked a furious reaction from Lennon as the former Celtic manager fumed, “No! What? What era are you playing in? You’ve gone gone soft.”
Boyd has form for this type of comment and it was clear that he was trying to stir the pot with this latest offering.
The decision to send Yang off was extremely harsh as you could see from the reaction of the Hoops winger that there was absolutely no intention to hurt the Hearts player.
However, with VAR you just cannot tell how these decisions go as the video referee pours over these incidents to the nth degree.
For Celtic now, they need to pick themselves up and prepare for the Scottish Cup quarter-final match against Livingston at Paradise next Sunday.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers shares the real reason he was genuinely ‘excited’ to bring Adam Idah to Celtic
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