Stunned Joe Hart feels Celtic were harshly treated by VAR during their 5-1 hammering at the hands of Real Madrid.
The free-flowing Champions League holders don't need an invite to get on the scoresheet and found themselves 2-0 up after referee Stéphanie Frappart was asked by video officials to run the rule over a handball check on Matt O'Riley, having already penalised Moritz Jenz for the same offence with just six minutes on the clock. Pundit Steve McManaman branded the decisions "rubbish" and Hart had to check himself from following suit in the aftermath of the convincing Euro trouncing.
Speaking to BT Sport, he said: "I don't think either them intentionally used their hands, I think that goes without saying. Matt said his hands were inside his body and it hit him, what do they want to do, chop his arms off? Obviously Mo slightly misjudges one and it hits his hand. I am not going to sit here and moan about penalties, we have been beat 5-1 by a very good team, but that does set the tone. But we got a penalty and missed it, so there you go."
And Hart refused to search for excuses as he knows the all-action style under Ange Postecoglou comes with risks. He added: “It’s never nice to lose two such soft penalties early on. I thought the first half was pretty even. We had some good chances, big Courtois had a good game. It’s an uphill struggle playing against the champions of Europe. We come here to represent and put our best foot forward.
“We played to attack but they are the kind of team if you leave gaps and holes they are ruthless. We had a lot of good blocks and I didn’t have an awful lot to do apart from fishing the ball out of the net five times, which is never nice."
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