Following their 3-2 win over the Rangers at Parkhead last weekend, Celtic might just have put the Premiership title race to bed. As things stand, they are twelve points ahead of their Glasgow rivals with just seven more games left to be played. As a result, a second straight league trophy is well within touching distance of Ange Postecoglou’s side.
Of course, the recent Glasgow Derby was not without its controversy. There was not much to one of the talking points coming out of the game though.
There was talk of Jota handling the ball in the lead up to one of Kyogo’s goals on the day against the Rangers. But footage has shown since then the ball clearly did not strike the Portuguese winger on the arm.
Now, even Michael Beale has admitted that he was wrong about his claim after the game. As reported by Football Scotland, the Rangers manager said:
"“I disagreed with one decision, I got it wrong in another, because the angle I had seen I thought it had hit the boy’s arm. It hadn’t so fair play, but I still think the first decision was the wrong one.”"
Rangers boss Beale makes U-turn regarding Celtic claim
It is safe to say that it was not a handball from Jota and was thus a clear goal. The other controversy on the day was of course surrounding the disallowed goal from Alfredo Morelos.
Morelos had found the back of the net but was adjudged to have fouled Alistair Johnston in the lead up to it. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of Rangers fans who did not agree with the decision.
At best it was a 50/50 call though. Morelos did have both his hands on Johnston in the lead up to the goal. Thus, nobody can claim that it was a clear and obvious error on the part of the referee on the day.
Whether there was controversy or not, the fact of the matter remains that Celtic won the Glasgow Derby. They are twelve points clear and closing in on the league title.