Celtic red card prompts ’embarrassing’ response from Michael Stewart as pundit asks ‘what’s the point in VAR?’
MICHAEL STEWART has slammed the decision to send off Celtic defender Gustaf Lagerbielke and asked: what's the point in VAR?
The Hoops defender received a second yellow card for an arm across the face of Feyenoord star Igor Paixao, conceding a penalty in the process.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers had no complaints over the decision and actually called out Lagerbielke for his "inexperience."
But former Hibs and Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart saw it differently.
The BBC and TNT Sports pundit reckons the decision to award the penalty was wrong to start with.
As all penalties are reviewed by the VAR team, he then posed the question of why they didn't overturn the call on the field.
Read more Celtic stories
He tweeted: "Embarrassing from the officials. What’s the point in VAR if you can’t recognise that’s the wrong decision?"
Although the penalty was missed, Celtic would go on to lose the game 2-0.
Boss Rodgers said both red cards were justified and admitted he was disappointed with how they came about, particularly as he felt his team were still in with a chance of getting a result in Rotterdam.
He said: “We were still in the game but in the second half I was really disappointed with the sendings off.
Most read in Football
“The first one you just have to shepherd it through to the goalkeeper and you don’t need to get into the fight. It’s inexperience.
“Then Odin, who’s a fantastic young player, will learn from that. He’s a very committed player but you can’t go to ground like that at any level and he made it very easy for the referee.
“I told the players we kept fighting in a difficult challenge but if we get to play Feyenoord in the last game with everything to play for we have a fantastic chance.”
Skipper Callum McGregor meanwhile described the decisions as on the harsh side.
He said: "The sendings off were maybe slightly harsh but in Uefa competitions the leniency isn’t very high.”
Meanwhile, Neil Lennon had a painful reaction to Joe Hart's error for the opening goal.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page