There has been much made about Celtic left back Boli Bolingoli’s supposed handball against Motherwell on Saturday afternoon.
There is no doubt the Hoops defender handled the ball in the box but many Celtic fans have shown footage on Twitter of the ball striking Motherwell striker Kevin van Veen’s hand before it struck Bolingoli.
Motherwell manager Graeme Alexander obviously never witnessed his own player handle the ball, weirdly, but clearly see’s Bolingoli’s misdemeanour, “It was a blatant penalty. I could tell by the reaction of the players.
“We were in the box, we were ready to get an opportunity to score and it’s a blatant penalty, the lad’s just slapped it away.
“I definitely think VAR would have helped us.”
It certainly would have helped The Well manager. It would have saved his feelings being hurt by claiming his side was wronged by vindicating Bolingoli and awarding a free kick for a van Veen handball.
However, Sky Sports ref, Dermot Gallagher claims it was a handball but gave a very different reason as to why the penalty was NOT awarded.
As reported by The Sun, “It’s handball by Bolingoli but in fairness to the referee, Van Veen completely obscures the referee’s view.
“He’s behind Van Veen and he doesn’t see it – so he can’t give it.”
Quite a strange take by an experienced ref which proves VAR will have a long way to go to convince many that the ‘honest mistakes’ that currently surround the game will not be eradicated overnight.