“I was so confused” – Matt O’Riley verdict on his penalty miss during Celtic F.C vs Rangers match

When Celtic and Rangers play in the Glasgow Derby, there are always decisions or incidents that cause a lot of trouble.

Rangers’ first goal of the season was correctly taken away because Cyriel Dessers tripped Gustaf Lagerbielke.

The 2-1 win at Celtic Park was overshadowed by the debate over Leon Balogun’s red card offense.

The 3–3 draw at Ibrox was marred by Fabio Silva’s dive, which got Rangers a penalty and a point in the race for the title.

Same thing happened yesterday.

O’Riley’s injury penalty VAR mess-up

An earlier red card for John Lundstam was followed by a penalty kick for Celtic in the second half after Mohamed Diomande of Rangers tripped a Celtic player.

The match referee, Willie Collum, pointed to the spot right away. Even though VAR asked him to look again, the SFA official stuck to his original call.

However, it was VAR’s action that made O’Riley feel really confused.

According to page 68 of The Sunday Post, O’Riley said, “I was really confused because I thought the pen was really clear.”

“I thought it was very clear that Mo Diomande had clipped me.”

“I never heard of VAR trying to change it, but I found it very strange.”

“You have no reason to miss a penalty.” Although, the wait was pretty long.

For me, it was a straight-up fine. There was no question that Collum made the right call. It was strange for VAR to step in and demand a review when there was no clear error.

There wasn’t much of a difference because Jack Butland stopped the penalty, but it shows again how badly the referees can use technology sometimes in our game.

It is my hope that the SFA will use the summer to further train their VAR officials so that the same mistakes don’t happen again next season. Right now, VAR is ruining the fun and results of far too many Scottish Premiership games.