Celtic defeated Kilmarnock 2-0 at Rugby Park this afternoon, although they had to battle hard for their three points.
After making two changes to the lineup that defeated RB Leipzig midweek, Celtic’s victory at Kilmarnock delighted Brendan Rodgers.
Callum McGregor and Nicolas Kuhn’s goals clinched the victory, guaranteeing that Celtic would return to the top of the Scottish Premiership standings with the three points they needed to travel back up the road to Glasgow.
Late in the game, though, there was some controversy when Reo Hatate threatened to be sent off for a high boot challenge against a Kilmarnock midfielder.
The challenge was deemed a yellow card by match referee Nick Walsh and the VAR team, which infuriated Kris Boyd of Sky Sports.
Kris Boyd rants about Celtic idol Reo Hatate and gets sent off.
Boyd went on a tirade about the Celtic midfielder getting away with being on the pitch because he was upset that Hatate had stayed on it.
“It’s a red card all day long,” Boyd said to Sky Sports. In terms of force, you can’t catch a player that far up the leg and turn around and apologise and get away with it because he turns around and apologises.
He catches him just below the knee, which is directly on top of the leg. You can’t avoid being sent off.
Don Robertson makes a mistake in the VAR room after the referee makes a mistake on the pitch. That is always a red card.
“Reo Hatate performed admirably on Tuesday evening. Fantastic. It’s a red card. That is a red card, regardless of whether Brendan Rodgers believes it to be so. That is a red card for the rest of the day in that one-off incident.
Additionally, Nick Walsh made a mistake on the pitch, as I previously stated. To make matters worse, Don Robinson made a mistake on the VAR machine. That is an issue.
Derek McInnes’ assessment of the potential Celtic red card for Reo Hatate
In his tirade, how many times did Boyd mention “red card”? You would think that the Kilmarnock manager would have been furious because the former Rangers striker was so certain that Hatate ought to have been sent off.
To be fair to the Kilmarnock manager, Derek McInnes responded with a lot more measures when asked about his thoughts on the challenge on Hatate following Boyd’s tirade.
McInnes asked, “Are you aware? I felt it was rather high at the time. It didn’t seem like it had much force.
Additionally, when it comes to VAR, occasionally you get an image that I’m sure wouldn’t have looked well.
To be honest, though, I’m not sure if it was a red card in terms of actual force. We would accept it, of course, as I believe we have been victims of a lot, but sometimes you don’t get these little breaks when playing a side like Celtic.
However, I didn’t believe it had much force. It wasn’t a poor tackle in my opinion.
The referees and the VAR guys brought calm, logical thought to that decision. Hatate obviously realised he wasn’t coming close to the ball, thus the referees watched him withdraw from the challenge.
Be calm. Reasonable. Reflecting. Kris Boyd could definitely give Celtic a try sometime.
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