Spanish referee Jesus Gil Manzano has defended his decision to overrule VAR during a key moment in Celtic’s 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich, insisting that Dayot Upamecano acted in a “fair manner” when he collided with Arne Engels inside the penalty area.
The controversial incident happened in the second half of the Champions League play-off tie at Celtic Park, with the hosts trailing 2-0 at the time. Engels appeared to be caught on the foot by the Bayern defender, prompting VAR to recommend a pitchside review.
However, after a lengthy check at the monitor, Manzano decided to stick with his original call, waving away Celtic’s penalty claims to the fury of the home crowd.
The decision left many bewildered inside the stadium, but UEFA clarified the referee’s rationale on the big screens at Parkhead.
According to the governing body:
“The Bayern Munich player [Upamecano] played the ball in a fair manner before the contact between the players.”
Manzano was adamant that Upamecano had made a clean intervention before his foot came down on Engels’, despite multiple replays suggesting there had been significant contact.
Celtic head into the match in Germany a goal down and will need to fight back if they are to win.
They need to replicate that second-half performance and be prepared to weather the storm in Germany.
The Hoops are still in the tie, but Bayern Munich will be keen to see them off early in the match
It is very clear that the VAR team thought quite differently from the referee and that is why they called him to the screen.
Can’t help but wonder if that was a Celtic player on a Bayern player whether Jesus would have come to the same conclusion… 🤔
Bayern player clearly won the ball.
I’m more concerned with our side and back passing until 70th minute, it cost the match.
We either go total gung ho or defend to deep, there is no middle ground.
I don’t like Rodgers persistence with passing around at the back, our forwards become stale with that type of play, he needs a better game plan.
Bayern seldom passed around the back, they got the ball forward quickly.
Yes the Bayern player clearer made contact with the ball first. However the ball was still in play and there to be won…. they next action of the Bayern player after getting a touch to the ball was to stamp on the foot of Engels, therefore upending him from getting to the ball, therefore a foul is commited and a penalty should have been awarded. This Spanish ref was also on the lookout for any excuse to disallow Maeda’s goal… Football is rotten to the core. I can count on multiple occassions where Celtic have been on revei ing end of dodgy penalties against teams from the big 5 nations. From Nicola Amoroso at Juventus in Turin, to penalties we should have got but didnt. Like Paulo Maldini 2 handed block in the San Siro. Just like Thierry Henry playing basketball against Ireland in the World Cup qualifiers. UEFA and FiFA dont want us smaller nations there, other than to make up the numbers