Efe Ambrose Celtic handball earns unanimous pundit verdict as VAR call leaves Shaun Maloney 'feeling sorry' for Morton
The centre-back was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box after Kevin Clancy checked the monitor.
A full house of pundits have insisted Morton defender Efe Ambrose should not have been punished for a handball against Celtic.
The Championship side faced a tough task as they looked to pull off a major Scottish Cup shock against Ange Postecoglou's side, but luck wasn't on Dougie Imrie's men when they faced off against the Premiership leaders. Liel Abada's shot cannoned off the foot of Jack Baird in the penalty box, and hit the hand of Ambrose in the box as he lunged to block the drive from the Celtic winger.
Referee Kevin Clancy initially did not award the spot kick, but following a lengthy VAR check Craig Napier sent the man in the middle to the monitor. Following a review, the penalty was awarded allowing Aaron Mooy to slot home the opening goal of the contest in Glasgow's east end before Kyogo Furuhashi quickly added a second goal to all but end the game as a contest.
However, a host of pundits across BBC's platforms could not understand the decision from the officials. Record Sport takes a look at the hot takes.
James McFadden
"I think initially you are saying it's goal-bound and it's a good block. Then you look at it again and Craig Napier took two minutes and 15 seconds to tell that it was a penalty. It looks like Efe Ambrose is trying to block the shot with his foot and his hand is not in an unnatural position. It's poor, and it's such a big decision. For me they have got it wrong."
Shaun Maloney
"The momentum of the game shifted with the penalty. I really don't understand at this point when he has seen it (at the monitor) that he gives it. It has hit his teammate and rebounded and hit his arm when it's behind him. I think it's a really poor decision. The fact that he has been asked to go to VAR is a poor decision. I am normally very supportive, and I'm a big advocate of it (VAR). I try to remain as neutral as I can and I played here for a long time, but I just felt really, really sad for the Morton manager and players."
Rory Loy
"For me that is never a penalty kick. It deflects off his centre-back partner Baird, there is a short distance and it travels quickly. There is no way that should be a penalty kick in my opinion."
Owen Coyle
"It looks very harsh because of the close proximity of the players. They have no chance of getting themselves out of the way. It looks very unfortunate for Morton's part."
Peter Grant
"You will usually see at least one Celtic player claiming. That will be the give away, but not one of them did."
Leanne Crichton
"It's an interesting decision. We've seen them given, we've seen them not given. There's no disputing it came off Efe Ambrose. I'm not too sure what he could have done about it."
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