Watch the Nicky Devlin penalty incident that VAR opted against
Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Livingston - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - December 21, 2022 Celtic's Reo Hatate in action REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
Celtic were on the wrong end of a VAR penalty claim in last night’s win over Livingston.
Midway through the first half Reo Hatate lined up a 25 yard shot towards goal. Seeing the danger and positioned a couple of yards in front of the six yard line Nicky Devlin got into position to block the effort.
The Livingston captain had time to put his arms behind his back, instead he raised his right arm to provide extra resistance, blocking the shot with his elbow with the ball going out for a corner.
Penalty shout for Celtic.
Ball travels a fair distance.
Elbowed away.— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) December 21, 2022
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The game was paused, VAR Steven Kirkland of the Ayrshire Referee Association, reviewed the incident, after a short pause the match resumed with a corner to Celtic.
In Celtic’s two previous home matches penalties were awarded against Alexandro Bernabei and Matt O’Riley for incidents in which they had very little control.
Devlin was close to 20 yards away from Hatate when the shot was struck, it clearly struck his arm but Kirkland seems to have applied a very different interpretation of the Laws of the Game to spare Livingston from having a penalty awarded against them.