Brendan Rodgers called out the "really poor" officiating he felt Celtic were on the receiving end of after their 2-0 defeat away at Hearts.
The loss came at a poor time for Celtic as they failed to capitalise of Scottish Premiership leader's Rangers loss at home to Motherwell yesterday. Today's defeat leaves Celtic two points off first place.
Rodgers was critical both of ref Don Robertson and VAR ref John Beaton in his post match interview.
The two decisions Rodgers felt Celtic were on the wrong side of came in the first half. Mere moments after Adam Idah missed a penalty for Celtic Hyun-Jun Yang was sent off after VAR checked his high foot challenge on Heart's Alex Cochrane.
"I never like to comment on officials but that cost us today. The officiating from on-field to John Beaton being on VAR, was really poor.
I look at the first incident (red card) and if you put a still on that it looks dangerous, but that's not the reality of the move. There's no force there, the ball's popped up. It's a booking. That's really disappointing to go down to 10 men for that but to receive a penalty against us - wow, that was even worse."
Yang Hyun-Jun sent off after this action! 🟥 pic.twitter.com/SRQZQyiKIi
— FootColic ⚽️ (@FootColic) March 3, 2024
Brendan Rodgers On "Disappointing" Officiating
"If you watch the incident again Tomoki's jumped, he's on his way down and he's not looking as he's been nudged a little bit which then pushes his arm out. If that's a penalty then you will have penalties in every single game, every single week. That is just absolutely shocking decision making and I feel really disappointed for our players and our supporters.
They're not looking at the reality of the action and the move. If you freeze frame then of course it looks dangerous, but that's not the reality and you've got to see it in context.I thought the officials were very, very poor and it was really disappointing.
🗣️ "That cost us today, the officiating."
🗣️ "You will have to ask John Beaton what he's seeing."Brendan Rodgers gives his thoughts on Celtic's loss to Hearts and key decisions in the game 🔽 pic.twitter.com/JcPcdONBBl
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) March 3, 2024
Celtic have a chance to redeem themselves next week in the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup where they welcome Livingston to Parkhead.
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