VAR official Willie Collum did not feel that referee Nick Walsh had made a clear and obvious error by failing to award Rangers a penalty following an Alistair Johnston handball in their cinch Premiership match against Celtic at Parkhead today.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement was incensed the Ibrox club were not given a spot kick following a VAR check of the incident just before half-time in a match his side ended up losing 2-1.
However, Collum believed that Walsh had been correct just to give a goal kick because he felt the Celtic player's hand was in a natural position when it made contact with the ball after watching a replay back at Clydesdale House.
Television footage later showed that Rangers forward Abdallah Sima had been in an offside position when John Lundstram played the ball in to him.
But Walsh did not indicate that was the reason why the penalty was disallowed at the time and the goal kick was then taken by Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Match officials only give penalties for handball if they believe the movement of the hand or arm to the ball is unnatural and Collum did not feel the flashpoint merited Walsh looking back at it on his pitchside monitor.
Clement, whose 16 game unbeaten run as Rangers manager came to an end at Parkhead, did not agree with their assessment.
“I’m really disappointed we didn’t get a penalty in the first half,” he said. “It would have been a different story to go into the dressing-room at 1-1.
“My biggest frustration isn’t missing chances because (Erling) Haaland and (Kylian) Mbappe miss chances. My biggest frustration is that if there’s a clear handball, I don’t understand why it’s not a penalty given. It’s a clear thing so I’m curious about it.
“There was no communication towards me. I’m not a referee, but if the communication is that Sima is offside then there should have been a clear signal from VAR for offside. Then everyone knows the decision. There was no communication at that moment.
“Otherwise, the signal of the referee is not correct. So there’s been a mistake and it’s clear for everyone to see. I also make mistakes, but it’s an expensive one today.”
His captain James Tavernier, who pulled a goal back for Rangers when he netted a long-range free-kick late on, agreed with his manager.
“It was a bit of a strange one," he said. "Thinking it’s a penalty, it doesn’t really get checked and it’s offside. There was a lot of confusion with what was going on. But I think it was a day with a lot of decisions that were questionable."
