Former referee Bobby Madden has weighed in on the decision to rule out Abdullah Sima’s goal for Rangers at the weekend. Celtic won the Scottish Cup thanks to a late goal from Adam Idah but social media was awash with moaning Rangers fans who felt that they were robbed by the decision.
Replays clearly showed Raskin push Joe Hart in the back as the Celtic goalkeeper went to punch the ball. The Englishman was furious and sprinted after Nick Walsh. John Beaton on VAR instructed Walsh to review the incident prompting the goal to be ruled out.
Now, the ex-Category One whistleblower has taken to Instagram to clarify his views on the decision to disallow the goal.
“This goal is correctly disallowed following and on field review.
“With so much going on at corners these offences are almost impossible to detect live by match officials, and this is exactly why VAR was introduced.
“There is a lot of discussion around a stronger push not being awarded earlier in game for an incident just outside the penalty area.
“It’s not been detected on the field of play, had it been inside the penalty area VAR would certainly have got involved.
“That incident doesn’t mean you then can’t punish this quite obvious push, two wrongs don’t make a right.
“You simply can’t be behind the goalkeeper and push them as they jump to play the ball.
“You can debate all day whether you think the goalkeeper would have played the ball, he has only missed it by a matter of centimetres.
“What you can’t debate is that the push has an impact on the goalkeeper, and that can’t be ignored by the VAR when they have such a clear image.”
Madden is quite correct in his assessment that the contravention by Raskin was a foul. Had the Belgian midfielder not pushed Hart, the Celtic goalkeeper would have been favourite to get something on it.
Rangers bluff and hysteria doesn’t mask the fact that Celtic have beaten them on four occasions this season. Despite not being at their best, Brendan Rodgers’ side found a way to get the job done. Idah’s strike in the 90th minute broke Rangers hearts in a game where neither side created chances.
The sad part about where this lot are concerned is this; when there is a blatant handball like the one with Davies on Saturday that goes AGAINST them, VAR intervenes to find a way to make sure it is not given.
If there are blatant pushes or breaches of rules like a two-handed push into the back of the goalie like Raskin did with Hart on Saturday, you absolutely KNOW that VAR scrutinizes every single possible freeze frame to see if there is a way that they can make it work in their favour!
But even THEY couldn’t make it happen this time, even though they did manage to ignore a blatant penalty at the other end!