Hidden reason why Heart of Midlothian F.C. 28-year-old player Lawrence Shankland was not sent off for his handball against Celtic F.C

Celtic’s win over Hearts was likely their best game so far this season under Brendan Rodgers.

This Celtic team needed three goals and a clean sheet right now in the season. To do it against Hearts, a team that had already taken six points away from us, makes it even better.

The two goals scored by Kyogo Furuhashi in the first half put Celtic on track for a 3-0 win. A penalty kick by Matt O’Riley in the 88th minute sealed the win.

Even though Lawrence Shankland made a mistake, O’Riley scored his 14th goal of the season, which made Celtic fans wonder.

Why didn’t the Hearts captain get a second yellow card?

Hearts’ red card against Celtic was stopped by a VAR rule.

Usually, an intentional handball would lead to an immediate yellow card. But not in the case of Shankland. The Hearts captain wasn’t sent off because the choice was made to have VAR look at the handball again.

Kevin Clancy, who was the match judge, never gave the yellow card before the VAR check. Clancy can’t then give a second yellow card because VAR can only deal with red cards that have already been given, not yellow cards.

So why did VAR make the call when it was so clear that the player had handled the ball? Most likely, Clancy didn’t see the touch because he could not see it. In that case, VAR would have had to help make the right call.

It really was a strange situation, and it makes sense that there wasn’t a second yellow card.

It doesn’t really matter in the end. The penalty kick gave Celtic all three points and put Brendan Rodgers six points ahead in the race for the title. At this point in the season, that’s all that counts.