Aiden McGeady reckons Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland ran the risk of a red card against Celtic late in the Premier Sports Cup final.
Coming out of Hampden, the flashpoint towards the end of regular time has dominated the talking points with Liam Scales at fault and bringing down Vaclav Cerny to the ground on the edge of the box. Referee John Beaton gave the Light Blues a free-kick and was supported in the call by Alan Muir in the VAR room – but replays appeared to show the Czech international had his foot on the line of the box and a spot-kick should have been awarded.
The decision sparked a furious response from Rangers boss Philippe Clement after he watched his side fall to defeat to Celtic in the penalty shoot-out with many pundits backing up the Belgian boss. But Hoops’ hero McGready flipped the script on the Light Blues.
In the second half of extra-time, England cap Butland rushed to collect a long ball forward from Reo Hatate with Daizen Maeda set to collect the pass after winning a foot race with James Tavernier. While the Ibrox No. 1 initially appeared to be positioned outside the area, he did appear to adjust his footing in time to collect the ball safely.
But McGeady reckons that the incident is comparable to the penalty controversy, telling the BBC Scottish Football Podcast: “I have not seen the image yet (of the Cerny foul), but at the time I did think it was tight. Also, on that one as well, I am thinking back to the Jack Butland one. It’s not as big a moment but when Butland caught the ball just at the edge of his area – that is one I thought could have been looked at because I thought that was tight as well.”
Should the incident have been flagged by the VAR team, John Beaton would have had a key decision to make. If a goalkeeper denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity they could received a red card.
However, IFAB rules state that if the goalkeeper stopped a promising attack, they will receive a lighter sanction of a yellow card. With Maeda potentially going through on goal it could have been a major call for the man in the middle.
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