DAVID Turnbull has admitted that Celtic will need to get wise to VAR to progress in Europe after seeing their chances of getting a result against Real Madrid undone by two harsh penalty decisions.
French referee Stephanie Frappart awarded the Champions League holders two spot kicks in the first-half of the Group F match in the Bernabeu on Wednesday night for handball offences.
Moritz Jenz was unable to get his arm out of the way a Federico Valverde shot early on and Matt O’Riley was helpless to avoid the attempt Rodrygo fired into him from close range.
The Danish playmaker was only penalised after the match official was advised to watch a replay of the incident back on her pitchside monitor by her VAR colleagues.
Going 2-0 down to Real in the opening 45 minutes of their final game in the competition left the Scottish champions facing an insurmountable task.
Turnbull, who tested Thibaut Courtois with two long-range attempts after coming on in the second-half, feels that he and his team mates must adapt to the new technology in order to succeed in future.
“Obviously, you need to be more careful because there is more scrutiny to every challenge and block that is made,” he said.
“It was disappointing to concede two penalties [against Real]. Maybe boys are thinking going into games now about keeping their hands behind their back or whatever. Hopefully, we don’t get too many more decisions like that.
“I remember the first game with VAR against Hearts (the cinch Premiership match at Tynecastle last month) was a bit crazy and we’ll need to get used to it because that is the way it going to be now.
“But we’ll get there in the end. You get some for you as you saw last Sunday (in the league match against Livingston at Almndvale) with a cross being blocked by a hand. So it happens both ways. We’ll just need to be more careful.”
The Scotland internationalist acknowledged that Celtic must improve their play in the final third as well if they want to challenge for a place in the Champions League knockout rounds in the seasons to come. However, he is confident that they have a solid platform to build on.
“The overall feeling is disappointment first and foremost,” he said. “But there are positives to take. Every game we had a real go and tried to play our own football.
“We created plenty of chances and had great opportunities against great opposition. We’re disappointed, but there’s a lot to take from it going into, hopefully, next year and we can progress further.
“You get punished at that level. If you don’t take your chances, they will go up the other end and score. It’s against top opposition and challenging yourself. It is hard to take sometimes when you have created so many chances, but we will take those positives from it and kick on.
“We’ve been brilliant in every game, I think. It’s just about taking our chances, but we have played our own football and the way the manager wants us to play. Everyone has enjoyed it and, hopefully, we can have a good league campaign the rest of this season and then more of the same next year.”
Turnbull added: “I’m sure all the boys will want more. I know personally that the 30 minutes I played, I enjoyed every minute. It was tough, of course. But challenging yourself against these kinds of boys is brilliant and it just makes you want more. I’m sure other boys are the same.
“It’s great coming up against those players like Modric. Everyone is so comfortable on the ball. We know what their next move is and it’s great to watch and to come on against it is amazing. Some of the boys are people I grew up watching, so it’s good to get a test against them.
“When you are playing against them, you have to give 100 per cent and try to get into them a little bit. It’s tough, but it’s what everyone wants to do and play your own game as well.”
