Brendan Rodgers questions VAR decision after Celtic suffer rare domestic defeat

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers questioned the decision to disallow what would have been a late equaliser for his side after they suffered only their second domestic defeat of the season away to in-form Hibernian.

Just a few days after their spirited 1-1 draw away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, the Hoops went down 2-1 at Easter Road as Josh Campbell scored twice in the first half.

Rodgers’ side rallied in the second half and after pulling one back through Daizen Maeda, they thought they had drawn level in the 83rd minute when the Japanese forward drilled home after a cutback from Alistair Johnston.

However, following a lengthy VAR check, the ball was deemed to have gone out of play before the Canadian right-back delivered it. Rodgers, however, was unconvinced as he faced the media afterwards.

“Well, I’m hoping to see conclusive evidence that it was out,” he said. “The linesman on this side, he had his flag up quite a lot today, but for the goal, he clearly has probably one of the best views in the ground and he kept his flag down, which tells me that he felt it was in, not all of the ball was out.

“Then you’ve got to go and review it with VAR, but then you’re taking an angle from the 18-yard line. If you’re taking the angle from the 18-yard line, and you can tell me that you can absolutely say 100 per cent, then you’re having a guess.

“These are big games to be guessing, especially at this point in the season. Obviously the linesman was in a great position, so it was disappointing to have the official overruled in that moment. We were in a great moment. We get to two each, then we’ve still got enough time to go and find a winner.”

Rodgers – who made three changes to the side that started in Munich – dismissed any suggestion fatigue was an issue as he lamented his side’s slack start.

“A disappointing start, a very good second half in the game,” he said of his team’s performances. “We conceded an awful goal, so that gives the crowd a lift, something to hang on to. We had some good moments in the first half, but not too many.

“Then we conceded a disappointing goal right on half-time. We made the changes (a triple substitution at half-time) to try and regenerate the team. In the second half, we were excellent. We were much more like ourselves.”

Hibs boss David Gray was proud of his side as they made it 13 games without defeat to tighten their grip on a top-six spot.

“We were outstanding,” he said. “We needed every player to give absolutely everything, and to buy into what we’re trying to do from a game-plan point of view, and I thought they delivered that.

“I’m delighted for them. They got out of the game what they deserved from the amount of effort they put into it. Every single one of them was outstanding.”

Gray heaped praise on energetic attacking midfielder Campbell. “He was excellent,” said the manager.

“He’s in a good run of form at the moment. He obviously came out of the team during a difficult period but he responded exactly the way you want a player to respond.

“When he got his opportunity again, he’s really taken it and he’s shown us what a good player he is, with his running power and his aggression. I think you’ve seen that today, he almost does a man and a half’s job.”