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Pundit blasts ‘rubbish’ penalty calls as Celtic defeated in Madrid

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French referee Stephanie Frappart gestures after checking the VAR (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Real Madrid midfielder Steve McManaman has blasted the referee’s decision to give Real Madrid two penalty kicks in Celtic’s Champions League defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu. Celtic were pegged back by two early spot kicks as Stepanie Frappart adjudged Moritz Jenz and Matt O’Riley to have handled the ball in the box.

The pundit told BT Sport that the decisions were ‘terrible’ and that they ‘spoil the game’ as he and Stuart Armstrong analysed the game.

“I personally think the two Real Madrid penalties are awful. Rubbish. They spoil the game.

“I just think they’re terrible decisions.

“The ball does strike the arm on both of them, but if Valverde strikes it properly, it misses the defender.

“Celtic have been unlucky. Yes, it hits his arm and it’s in the penalty area.”

The Real Madrid skipper Luca Modric stepped up after Valverde’s fluffed shot hit the arm of Moritz Jenz, who knew very little about it. Frappart pointed to the spot and VAR checked it but the officials in the VAR room decided that the position was unnatural. Modric stepped up and cooly slotted the penalty into the net after sending Joe Hart the wrong way. It was a harsh decision, especially given that the defender had gone to block the initial shot and not attempted a heroic dive to stop the strike.

Rodrygo made it 2-0 to Real Madrid. VAR interfered after O’Riley blocked a blistering strike from Vinicius Jnr, the game played on before the Italian officials in the VAR room instructed Frappart to check the monitor by the side of the pitch. The French referee inspected and could see the ball connecting with O’Riley’s arm and accordingly pointed to the spot. Given the speed of the incident, it is incredibly harsh that O’Riley was penalized. To compound matters, O’Riley received a yellow card for his troubles.

Celtic were obviously going to be up against it but they were unlucky to lose these two penalties. Frappart is relatively inexperienced at this level and likely was influenced by the huge home support to give way to the European Champions.

About Author

Born just as Celtic were stopping the Ten, Lubo98 follows Celtic home and away and helps run his local Celtic Supporters Club. He goes to all the games and is a Law Graduate. Has a particular fondness for Tom Rogic among the current Celts and both Lubo and Henrik form his earliest Celtic memories.

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1 Comment

  1. Joe on

    The most interesting part of these comments from Steve McMannaman is that he was a Real Madrid player himself! So you know this is far from sour grapes.
    Penalties aside or penalties included, the major difference was the clinical finishing of Real Madrid versus the missed golden opportunities from us.
    This failure to capitalize on the good scoring opportunities throughout the Champions League this season has been the difference between success and failure.
    We have created several good scoring opportunities in all six games, not so different to our domestic league form in Scotland.
    I do appreciate tgat Real Madrid are a far superior level which makes me think had we converted two or three of our golden opportunities in either game against Madrid, they would have stepped it up a notch.
    But the other two teams could and should have been put to the sword.
    Hopefully we can work on finishing these chances with greater consistency moving forward.