Celtic’s dramatic 3-1 victory over Motherwell has continued to spark debate, with pundit Ian McCall admitting he was stunned that referee John Beaton did not award the Hoops a penalty immediately during the key moment of the match.
Martin O’Neill’s side produced another important result in the Scottish Premiership, coming from behind at Celtic Park to close the gap on league leaders Hearts to just two points.
But the game’s biggest talking point arrived in the second half when the match was finely balanced at 1-1.
As a corner was delivered into the Motherwell box, Daizen Maeda battled for position at the back post with Emmanuel Longelo. The Celtic forward was pulled down as he attempted to reach the ball, but referee John Beaton initially waved play on.
It was only after intervention from VAR that the decision was reviewed.
Beaton was instructed to take a second look at the pitchside monitor, and after studying the replays he overturned his original call, awarding Celtic a penalty and sending Longelo off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity without attempting to play the ball.
The decision proved decisive.
Tomas Cvancara stepped up and confidently converted the spot-kick to give Celtic the lead, swinging the momentum firmly in favour of the home side as Motherwell were forced to continue the match with ten men.
Watching the incident unfold, former manager and pundit Ian McCall admitted he was surprised the foul was not spotted immediately.
“We got to see three or four angles of it, but you only really need to see the first one of it,” McCall said on BBC Sportsound.
“Longelo has just wrapped his arms around Maeda from behind him. He was just completely hauled to the ground, and I can’t believe the referee never saw it in real time.”
Despite the controversy, Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou took a more measured approach when discussing the incident after the match.
While clearly frustrated by the outcome, the Steelmen manager acknowledged that the decision could be justified and admitted his defender had put himself in a difficult position.
“You can argue that Manny [Longelo] is holding him a little bit too long. [Daizen] Maeda’s also trying…. they’re wrestling,” Askou said.
“You see that situation a million times. Obviously, often the ball doesn’t end there. If the ball hadn’t gone there, it would never have turned into a penalty.
“There’s an opportunity for the referee to argue that there’s a holding offence. And that’s hard to argue against. I know Manny is gutted right now that he didn’t control that situation better than he did.
“And then obviously we get the double punishment with the red card, which gave us a mountain to climb at that point, because we were actually, I think, in very good control of the game there, ready to really accelerate and push for the last 20-25 minutes to get the win.”
With the penalty converted and Motherwell reduced to ten men, Celtic took control of the match and eventually sealed the 3-1 victory — a result that could prove crucial as the Premiership title race begins to heat up.