Irish association football referee Dermot Gallagher reacts and speaks up on his assessment of the Celtic vs. Hearts penalty incident

Last weekend’s win over Heart of Midlothian caused two major controversies, and the latest round of VAR decisions gave fans a lot to talk about.

First, the visitors were given a penalty for a handball by Liam Scales, but referee Colin Steven reversed the call after reviewing it on the field.

The slow-motion video of the play showed that the ball hit the Irishman above the t-shirt line. Because of this, there was no penalty kick and Steven Naismith went on a rant after the game.

The boss of Hearts also didn’t like the penalty Celtic got because James Penrice’s outstretched arm blocked a Nicolas Kuhn cross. Anders Arne Engels scored his first goal for Celtic from 12 yards out with a cool finish. It was his first goal for the Bhoys.

Dermot Gallagher, a former referee in the Premier League, has now said what he thinks about both decisions on Ref Watch.

Dermot Gallagher’s opinions on the key moments in the Celtic vs. Hearts match
As seen live on Sky Sports, Gallagher thinks that Steven made both good calls because Celtic beat Hearts at home, but he feels bad for the guests because they were given a penalty.

First, he talked about what happened with Scales: “I think this fits with what we talked about earlier, Rob. If you look at that last year, it would definitely be a penalty.”

“I don’t think so. His arm is in a position where you’d expect him to make that challenge. He’s going to head the ball; he wants to keep his balance.” That was the right thing to do. Instead of giving a penalty, he should have sent him over to the screen to drop the ball.

After the Penrice handball, he said, “This is the problem, isn’t it?” As referees, this is the hole we sometimes dig for ourselves. He says that the arm is outstretched to stop the cross in this case. The player’s reaction shows that he was trying to get his arm in very quickly. I believe that because his arm is stretched out.

In the end, Celtic won last weekend, and they earned it. They put on another good performance that has cemented their place at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

Penalty decisions are often argued, which is why VAR is so important. However, the referee made two calls that most likely led to the right result.

While Hearts think about what might have been, the Bhoys have more important things to do. They will quickly start getting ready for their Champions League match against Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday.