It’s not every day you have Davie Provan fighting out corner. He might be an ex-Celt but he’s as critical as they come.
The Sky Sports commentator watched the club during the week take on Rennes in the Europa League and believed if it hadn’t been for a silly mistake by Kristoffer Ajer AND the referee – Celtic could have left Rennes with all three points.
On the night, Spanish ref José Martínez looked out his depth and made some more than peculiar decisions.
Celtic should have had two penalties had it not been for his incompetence.
The one thing which is sticking in Provan’s craw is the lack of VAR in the Europa League. Whether you are in support of the technology or not – it stands to reason it should be implemented across both competitions.
“Celtic produced a top performance in France. But for a dumpling referee and some amateur defending from Kristoffer Ajer, Celts would be two points better off. How can a multi-billion euro organisation like Uefa not have VAR in all of their tournaments?” Provan wrote in his SunSport column.
It’s a very fair point.
Uefa have gone out their way to try and make the Europa League NOT feel like a second rate competition but then they only fund VAR for the Champions League.
VAR can give and take away and I’m not sure our support is ready to go through those emotions. Seeing a goal go in and not celebrating it until it has been checked seems bizarre.
