Former Premier League referee reckons Motherwell were 'lucky' in VAR call as Celtic penalty claim assessed

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher thinks Motherwell were ‘lucky’ not to give away a penalty in their 2-0 defeat to Celtic.

In the 52nd minute, captain Callum McGregor’s powerful shot deflected off Lukas Fadinger out for a corner. Replays showed that the ball was heading towards the target before it struck the arm of the Motherwell midfielder. VAR Don Robertson had a look but chose not to intervene. The incident eventually had no bearing on the result as Celtic won 2-0 through goals from Camilo Duran and Benjamin Nygren.

Immediately after the incident, the appeals for Celtic were very muted. Midfielder McGregor just looked to be claiming for the corner. The power that he got behind the shot made it almost impossible for Fadinger to handle the ball intentionally - but with his arm away from his body slightly and the shot on target - you’ve certainly seen them given.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch alongside former pros Tim Sherwood and Jay Bothroyd, Gallagher explained why the hosts may have got away with one. He said: “This is really interesting. When you see it from one angle you think no. But when you see it from Callum McGregor’s angle, his arm looks as if it is out. But Callum McGregor just wants a corner. “It’s his back arm as well, so if he gets penalised, he gets penalised. I think he got lucky.”

The incident took place in the exact box Celtic were awarded a penalty against Motherwell in May last season due to a controversial handball. However, on this occasion, pundits Sherwood and Bothroyd were also in agreement that the decision could’ve went their way.

After the match, the manager said: “We played really well today, we created a lot of chances and from start to finish I thought we were excellent. We just had to refocus on the things that have made the team good. I think that we fell short in that there in terms of closing players down, things like this here, that extra energy.

“The first goal’s really important, a great finish by Camilo (Duran). And then it settled us down, which was good, although I thought up until then we had a lot of possession. Do I think we should have scored more? Oh, we had a lot of chances and we could have, but delighted to win.”