Bobby Madden has delivered his thoughts on the drama resulting from Celtic vs Rangers this weekend.
Glasgow's big two met in the Scottish Cup final 2024 at Hampden yesterday afternoon, as Brendan Rodgers and his team celebrated a league and cup double.
Adam Idah was the matchwinner with less than a minute left on the clock at the national stadium.
The Hoops players and backroom staff celebrated with their fans long into the night as they brought the curtain down on the 2023/24 season in glorious fashion.
But it wouldn't be a derby between the two without some sort of controversy surrounding officiating.
Nick Walsh was the man in charge of the game yesterday, and we felt he got all of the major calls correct in the match.
That sentiment is shared by former Scottish FA referee Madden, who insists VAR was right to wave away appeals for a Celtic penalty in the first half, and then chop off a Rangers goal in the second.
On the first incident, where Ben Davies appeared to handle the ball inside Rangers' box after the ball deflected onto his arm from close-range after Kyogo got a nick on it, Madden insists there is simply no debate here.
He wrote on his Instagram: "Correct decision - no penalty. This is absolutely not punishable.
"The ball is played by the attacker from such a short distance so the ball is unexpected, the defenders arm does not move towards the ball and does not make the body unnaturally bigger.
"I really hope there is a reset over the summer regarding handball and everyone can accept this is not a penalty."
Then moving on to Abdallah Sima's disallowed goal on 59 minutes, the retired referee says the severity of the push on Joe Hart by Nicolas Raskin could be 'debated all day long,' but the right verdict was reached after John Beaton intervened on VAR duty.
He added: "This goal is correctly disallowed following and on field review. With so much going on at corners, these offences are almost impossible to detect live by match officials, and this is exactly why VAR was introduced.
"There is a lot of discussion around a stronger push (Liam Scales on Dujon Sterling) not being awarded earlier in game for an incident just outside the penalty area.It’s not been detected on the field of play, had it been inside the penalty area VAR would certainly have got involved.
"That incident doesn’t mean you then can’t punish this quite obvious push, two wrongs don’t make a right. You simply can’t be behind the goalkeeper and push them as they jump to play the ball.
"You can debate all day whether you think the goalkeeper would have played the ball, he has only missed it by a matter of centimetres.
"What you can’t debate is that the push has an impact on the goalkeeper, and that can’t be ignored by the VAR when they have such a clear image."
