Ange Postecoglou hits out at VAR and says Celtic denied clear penalty against Rangers at Ibrox

Ange Postecoglou insists Celtic were denied a clear penalty against Rangers at Ibrox and says it would have been called ‘a title defining decision’ if it was against the home side.

A late equaliser from Kyogo Furuhashi, who has been named Premiership player of the month for December, meant the Hoops left the home of their biggest rivals with their nine-point lead at the top of the table still intact.

But their manager is still ruing John Beaton’s call, which came after the ref consulted with VAR officials when the ball struck Connor Goldson’s hand in the penalty area during the 2-2 draw on Monday.

Postecoglou said: “There’s been people doing mental gymnastics to try and show why it’s not.

“It’s just really confusing for players in the box to know what they can or can’t do.

“Just now it seems to change depending on who is in charge of the decision making process because there has been zero consistency in the decisions being made.”

The decision was the latest in a string of big calls going against Celtic since the introduction of VAR and Postecoglou says there is “zero chance” of that evening itself out in the coming months.

He said: “Over the course of a season these things usually even themselves out, but since the introduction of VAR and the decisions that have gone against us in particular, there is zero chance that is going to even up by now and the end of the year.

“We have had, at least, three remarkable decisions that have gone against us and again we can say ‘it comes down to interpretation’ but I guarantee you if that was Rangers who were denied that decision, then the talk this week would be how that was a title defining decision.

“The fact that it wasn’t was because we still managed to get a result, as we have in other games when decisions have gone against us.

“But that shouldn’t mean we ignore it, because that could be a team that gets relegated on a decision like that.

“I think it needs to be highlighted, I think there still needs to be clarification but it was a penalty in my mind, before we even started introducing VAR, it’s always been a penalty.

“To be honest there was only two saves made in the game, one by Joe and one by Connor.”

Celtic will play Kilmarnock at home on Saturday with a chance to increase their lead to 12 points with Rangers travelling to Tannadice on Sunday.