The decision to disallow Daizen Maeda‘s goal against St Johnstone has split the Premier Sports pundits.
The Japanese star thought he’d put Celtic 1-0 in up Perth with a fine volley. But a VAR check denied the livewire forward after zoning in on a collision between Aaron Trusty and graham Carey. The St Johnstone man hit the deck as Trusty appeared to block his run and create some space for himself at the back post. The ball was cleared, but the visitors kept it alive and Maeda fired home.
It mattered little in the grand scheme of things as Kyogo put Brendan Rodgers’ side 1-0 up soon after. Paulo Bernardo doubled the advantage before Kyogo added his second and his team’s third to put the game beyond the hosts. But Michael Stewart on co-commentary duty felt Maeda was hard done by. He said: “Trusty’s making a run round the back. It’s a real sore one but that is not a free kick for me.
“It’s a collision, a coming together but it;s two players that are just running in separate directions. For me that’s the wrong decision. If you are running somewhere and someone unexpectedly runs into your path then it’s a natural reaction to put your arm up a little bit and try and protect.”
However, fellow pundits Charlie Mulgrew and Alan Hutton agreed with the officials after seeing it again. Mulgrew said: “It’s really hard. Only Aaron trusty knows 100 per cent if he sees the player there. I think he sees him and tries to block him, so I think it’s a foul.”
Hutton added: “It took me a few times to watch it and see it. If you watch him, he’s just trying to get that little yard and then, it’s a block. Look, it’s a really good finish but you can see what he’s trying to do so I can understand why that was given (as a foul).”