Celtic were denied an 82nd minute penalty at Ibrox today.
Trailing 2-1with time running out the ball was fed out left to Sebastian Tounekti.
After taking a touch to get towards the by-line Tounekti’s jersey was held by Dujon Sterling. This continued for six seconds.
There is jockeying for possession and using your body. All permitted.
Sterling is much more physical than Tounekti but the Tunisian can twist and turn away from any defender.
John Beaton has an uninterrupted view of the entire passage of play.
Sterling’s left arm is used to push Tounekti away, he adds to that by grabbing the Celtic jersey.
As Sterling pushes his opponent off the pitch the ball comes off his foot.
At the very least Celtic should have been awarded a corner.
CELTIC CLAIM IGNORED BY SKY SPORTS
Strangely, or maybe not Sky Sports opted out of showing a replay of the incident from behind the goal.
There is no evidence of a VAR review taking place even though there was a natural break in play for.
A penalty at any time is vital. Trailing 2-1 in the 82nd minute it could have been a game changer.
Going level after being 2-0 down and almost buried at half-time would have given Celtic all the impetus with more than 10 minutes still to be played.
This should have been a pen. The fouls they’re allowed to get away with are ridiculous. Souttar should have been off not even booked for the knee to Adamu.
— untilthelasttreble (@SeanLee84) March 1, 2026
Celtic were awarded a penalty in the 87th minute, prompted by VAR where Steven McLean and Kevin Clancy were on duty.
James Forrest fired in across from the right- Daizen Maeda, Jack Butland and Dujon Sterling all challenged for the ball.
Maeda got a header on it, Sterling raised his left arm to block the header and send it off Butland and off to safety. Or so they thought.
Beaton stopped the game. Sterling had the face on a condemned man. His luck had ran out.
Sky Sports showed re-runs of what had happened. The handball was clear. So clear that eventually Beaton was sent over to the monitor.
He watched it over and over again. He tried to find away out of the obvious decision.
On the pitch the players stood awaiting the verdict. Julian Araujo grabbed the ball.
BEATON FORCED INTO AWARDING CELTIC A PENALTY
Eventually Beaton left the monitor and pointed for a penalty. Sterling escaped a yellow card.
Reo Hatate is far from an assured penalty taker. His first effort was saved by Jack Butland, the former Crystal Palace third choice got a hand to the round but third time around Hatate found the net.
With 90 minutes on the clock Celtic were level.
Beaton played an extra six minutes. Celtic coped with a few free kicks. The home players couldn’t cope at the final whistle as they squared up and jostled, playing to the gallery.
Nicky Raskin and Mikey Moore played the ‘haud me back’ heroes. A 74-year-old man broke things up.
A lanky German with a dodgy haircut suddenly felt very lonely as he walked around the pitch to applaud the fans. His actions weren’t reciprocated.
The pressure is all on Rohl. His honeymoon is over, he is now in Phil Clement territory.
Mouthing off on Friday about why Celtic should have chased a 3-0 win on Stuttgart wasn’t the smartest of moves.
Martin O’Neill took it all in his stride and dished out lessons on and off the pitch.
Had Celtic been given the penalty they were due in the 82nd minute it could have been much much worse for Rohl. Showing all the ability of someone that had managed less than 100 games in the English Championship.
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