‘Awful’ & ‘ridiculous’ – but was VAR really to blame for Celtic defeat?

Kelechi Iheanacho called it “an awful decision”. Team-mate Sebastian Tounekti said it was “crazy”. Former Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart went with “ridiculous”.

Manager Brendan Rodgers bemoaned what was a “huge moment” when Celtic had an Iheanacho goal ruled out early in the second half against Sporting Braga.

The Nigerian thought he had equalised for the home side when he fired a left-footed strike into the far corner after bursting through a weak defensive challenge.

However, after a lengthy review, VAR Christian Dingert instructed referee Tobias Stieler to disallow the goal because of a handball, despite replays appearing to show the ball hitting Iheanacho in the face.

“The ball didn’t hit my hand, and that changed the game,” Iheanacho said.

But throughout the game, Celtic made errors of their own.

On 20 minutes, Ricardo Horta’s strike from 33 yards fizzed and dipped towards Kasper Schmeichel’s goal, but the experienced Danish goalkeeper flapped at it and was left sprawled on the turf as the visiting Braga players celebrated the opener.

Another defensive mess in the second half resulted in Dane Murray’s attempted clearance ricocheting off Gabri Martinez and into the back of the net.

It wasn’t much better going forward for Rodgers’ side, who played much of the second half with last season’s top scorer – Daizen Maeda – at right wing-back.

Celtic failed to score for the fifth time in 12 games this season – the same number in which they drew a blank in the entirety of last season.

Rodgers went to a back three at half-time in an attempt to find a spark, with Maeda dropping into a deeper role and Marcelo Saracchi replacing Colby Donovan.

Celtic did improve and when Iheanacho beat Braga goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek, the hosts were the side on top.

That momentum was halted by a prolonged VAR check, the outcome of which was incomprehensible to most – if not all – at Parkhead.

Former Celtic title-winning goalkeeper Joe Hart – on commentary duties with TNT Sports – was in no doubt the goal would be given at the time of the incident.

“There’s VAR checking for handball trying to ruin everyone’s fun, but no, it comes off his head,” Hart said at the time.

“What could they possibly be waiting for? They must be seeing a different replay to me. What are we wasting our time for? This is ridiculous.

“I presume there’s a bad wi-fi connection because that can be the only reason we aren’t getting on with this game at 1-1.”

But soon enough, Stieler was explaining that the goal was being disallowed.

Speaking afterwards, those in the Celtic camp were just as confused. “It was never a handball, it’s crazy that the referee disallowed that,” Tounekti said.

“We watched the video over again and I spoke to Kele about it. I’m really interested in what VAR saw because that was never a handball.

“I think if that goal stood we would win the game 100%.”

Rodgers, too, was at a loss at how the officials reached the verdict they did.

Much of the post-match focus was on the non-goal, but Schmeichel’s mistake handed the initiative to Braga.

Horta’s shot had an expected-goals value of just 0.027, but it evaded the 38-year-old’s goalkeeper’s grasp.

“He’ll be really disappointed with it,” Rodgers said. “It’s a good strike and it’s obviously moved a little bit, but I haven’t spoken to him about it.”

Beyond the defensive errors, this was yet another game where Celtic have failed to fire this term.

Maeda is being played out of position to accommodate Tounekti, while every midfield combination Rodgers has tried has lacked cutting edge and energy.

They were unable to break down Kazakh side Kairat Almaty over three-and-a-half hours as they dropped out of the Champions League.

And this is the fewest matches into a campaign in which Celtic have had five games without scoring since the 1991-92 season.

Supporters have highlighted the perceived lack of transfer ambition in the summer.

But Celtic’s struggles stretch back to February, when they ran Bayern Munich close before being knocked out of the Champions League.

Since then, they have failed to win 12 of 27 matches in all competitions.

“It was a poor Celtic performance,” former Scotland forward James McFadden said on Sportsound. “Lacking quality, something we’re not used to seeing with Celtic.

“I think the change of shape at half-time helped a little bit, but in the end Braga deserved the win.”

Defensive errors and a lack of attacking quality is rarely a winning combination.

“Not enough intent for me,” former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner said. “Keeping the ball fine, moving it around, but not enough real intent in that final third.