Celtic

[GG Riva]

Well, a good, feisty debate on this thread, which I don't intend to get drawn into, but just make a single contribution. I didn't see the whole game as I watched the Goals Show on TNT, but did see the red card incident. At first I was convinced it was a stick on and tbh, it never occurred to4 me that Maeda was merely trying to block the pass and Hermoso kicked into him. (I suppose that's because I've never played the game at a decent level) It makes a lot of sense because Maeda is a high energy player but not a thug by any stretch.

After reading the opinions of various pundits and posters, I'm now convinced the red card was extremely harsh and that there was no intent by Maeda to hurt his opponent. Unfortunately for him, referees are instructed to ignore any intent or lack of it under modern rules, perhaps because it's so difficult to be certain one way or the other. Perhaps more than the tackle itself, what caused the ref to upgrade the yellow to red was his VAR colleague telling him to look at it again on the monitor. The implication is that the ref has made "a clear and obvious error " and must send the player off. (How many refs can you think of, who have stuck to their original decision after consulting the monitor?)

And lastly, the theatrical rolling around by Hermoso, and the heated protests of many of his team mates, did Maeda no favours, although I don't think this alone would have influenced the referee enough to change his mind.

[SanguinePar]

So anyway. Celtic lost 6-0. Ha ha.