Former English Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has declared that Jota’s winning goal was not offside last night.
The Hoops were previously denied a third goal in the first half when Jota scored what looked like a perfectly good strike. There was minimal contact between himself and the defender, and referee Willie Collum only blew his whistle when the linesman incorrectly raised his flag for offside.
In addition to Celtic being denied a 3-0 lead at the break, Aberdeen got away with one in the immediate build up to their first goal as Scott Brown fouled Carl Starfelt off the ball.
Nevertheless, Stephen Glass and the Aberdeen support argued that Liel Abada was offside in the build up to the eventual winning goal that Jota scored.
Discussing the controversial decision on Sky Sports News, former EPL whistler Gallagher insisted that the linesman got it correct.
“If you look at it from the start, Abada is in an offside position – there’s no doubt about that,” he said. However, he continued by saying:
“He starts to come back, and I think when the ball is headed forward, (Ross) McCrorie at the bottom of the pitch is playing him onside. So it’s not offside.
“Then it defaults back to, ‘Do you think Abada fouls Bates?’
“It’s an on-field decision rather than the assistant’s decision for offside.
“Referee Willie Collum decides it is normal physical contact and allows the goal. I think it’s going to be debatable.
“All in all, unless you’ve got VAR, where you can stop it and use freeze frame, you have to accept these things will happen.”
