NafisaCeltic supporters have spent much of Sunday trying to make sense of one of the most frustrating moments from their weekend win at St Mirren.
It was the kind of incident that looked straightforward enough when the ball hit the net, only for the celebrations to quickly turn into confusion once VAR became involved.
Camilo Duran thought he had finally given Celtic a way back into the game in Paisley. Instead, the forward was left waiting while the officials went through a lengthy check before eventually ruling the goal out.
The decision has continued to divide opinion, particularly because the margin involved appeared so small.
Even Martin O’Neill was still questioning exactly what had happened after the final whistle.
And now one of the most recognisable former referees in the game has offered his assessment.
Mark Clattenburg, who took charge of both the 2016 Champions League final and Euro 2016 final, has examined the incident after being approached by 67HH.
His verdict is unlikely to end the debate among Celtic supporters.
Clattenburg believes the officials were right to rule Duran offside and insists that, when the decision is this tight, there is ultimately a need to trust those making the call.
“Celtic’s offside looks tight to the naked eye, and the player must be ahead of the ball and ahead of the second most rear defender for the decision to be given,” Clattenburg said.
“It’s a very tight one as he is ahead of the ball and it looks like a foot is ahead of the defender. We have to trust the match officials in this case, especially when it’s so tight.
“Offside is factual, and therefore 1cm is offside, and there is no margin to give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker.”
On the wording of the law itself, Clattenburg’s argument is difficult to dispute.
There is no special allowance in the offside law for an attacker who is only marginally beyond the relevant defender. If the player is offside when the ball is played, the fact that the difference may be tiny does not, by itself, make the decision incorrect.
But that is not really the issue which has kept Celtic supporters talking.
The bigger question is whether the technology and footage available to the officials were sufficiently clear to establish that Duran was actually ahead of the defender.
When the alleged difference is only a matter of centimetres, the accuracy of the point being measured becomes absolutely crucial.
That is where much of the frustration has come from.
Supporters are not necessarily arguing that the offside law should be changed to accommodate marginal decisions. Instead, they want to know whether the images used by VAR were clear enough for everyone watching to understand why the goal was overturned.
And the confusion around the decision became even greater later in the match.
Shim Mheuka appeared to have scored what would have been his first Celtic goal, only for that effort to be ruled out as well.
However, the situation was different on that occasion because the normal virtual offside lines could not be produced.
Referee Ryan Lee was instead sent to the pitchside monitor to make a judgement using the footage available to him.
That meant Celtic had two goals disallowed on a night when VAR became an increasingly prominent part of the story.
Yet despite all the frustration, O’Neill’s side ultimately ensured that neither decision proved decisive.
Celtic recovered from falling behind to St Mirren and secured a 2-1 victory through Liam Scales and Yang Hyun-jun.
The result maintained their perfect start to the Scottish Premiership season and had initially moved them five points clear at the top of the table.
Hearts’ win on Sunday has since reduced that advantage to three points, but Celtic remain in a strong position after another victory.
That is perhaps the part supporters will take most comfort from.
Duran’s disallowed effort did not ultimately cost Celtic points, while the later decision involving Mheuka also failed to prevent them from completing the comeback.
Nevertheless, the controversy is unlikely to disappear simply because Celtic won.
Clattenburg may believe the officials deserve to be trusted when an offside decision is this tight.
For many Celtic supporters, however, the issue is no longer simply whether one centimetre should count.
It is whether they were shown enough evidence to believe that the crucial centimetre was actually there in the first place.
Nafisa
