Celtic lost by a goal to nil in the second round of the Viaplay Cup on Sunday afternoon as a spirited Kilmarnock side caused the Bhoys a wealth of problems.
Although the Hoops deserved nothing from the match, they easily could have had a penalty late on.
Sead Haksabanovic drove towards the bye-line and was clipped. The Montenegrin international went down, and he and all of the Celtic support behind the goal screamed for a penalty.
Referee Alan Muir waved away the claims, however. The call didn’t even go to VAR. In the game’s aftermath, though, several pundits and fans alike have voiced their opinions on the decision.
Former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson has been the latest to do so. He said on Go Radio (via Glasgow Times): “It’s a penalty. If I’m playing, I would be absolutely raging. End of, it’s a penalty. He’s clipped him and he’s went down. I fully expected when I was watching the game, I was like ‘right, that’s it going into extra-time’.”
It shows how easily a spot-kick could’ve been given that the former skipper of Celtic’s arch-rivals firmly believes it was a penalty.
We may well have seen a different outcome to the game had Muir pointed to the spot, but he didn’t. In the coming weeks, the Bhoys need to up their game and ensure there are no repeat performances of Sunday.
