Just days after English soccer had what many said was its , Scotland said: Hold my beer.
Two league title races on a knife edge, two hugely consequential refereeing decisions that provoked equal amounts of anger, confusion and conspiracy theories.
Also delight for Celtic, which benefited from the disputed call Wednesday just as Arsenal did Sunday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 actually quite disgusting,鈥� said Derek McInnes, coach of Scottish Premiership leader Hearts after seeing the handball incident that gave Celtic a last-minute penalty in a 3-2 win at Motherwell.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a bad decision,鈥� said McInnes, who takes his Hearts team to Celtic for a final showdown Saturday with a one-point lead in the standings.
That lead could 鈥� and most in Scotland seemed to believe should 鈥� be three points.
Results on the field
Wednesday evening in Scotland was the second-last round of games in a
Unheralded Hearts has led the league for months trying to bring the trophy back to the club after a 66-year wait.
Hearts easily beat Falkirk 3-0 at the same time as Celtic’s back-and-forth drama at Motherwell. A tense split-screen evening got clearer focus in the closing minutes.
Motherwell leveled at 2-2 in the 85th minute at Fir Park, just before Hearts got its third in the 86th at a Tynecastle Park pulsating with the noise of 19,000 raucous fans.
If those results stood, Hearts would go to Celtic able to lose by two clear goals Saturday and still win the title on the tiebreaker of goal difference.
Then, Celtic had a throw-in near the Motherwell penalty area in the last of four minutes of stoppage time.
The penalty incident
The throw-in was launched long and Celtic鈥檚 United States defender Auston Trusty jumped for a header with Motherwell鈥檚 Sam Nicholson.
Trusty鈥檚 shoulder seemed to lift Nicholson鈥檚 arm upward, pushing his hand toward his face. The ball was cleared high and about 20 meters (yards), apparently from Nicholson鈥檚 header. No foul was spotted by the referee.
Trusty went down as if struck in the head and referee John Beaton eventually went to his pitchside monitor for a video review.
The main camera angle did not seem conclusive but Beaton judged a handball offense and pointed to the penalty spot.
With the last kick, in the 99th minute, Celtic forward Kelechi Iheanacho scored. Hearts fans who stayed on at Tynecastle watched their phone screens in dismay.
Celtic will now clinch its 14th league title in 15 years with a win by any score against Hearts, which must avoid defeat.
Coach reactions
鈥淚t鈥檚 shocking, it鈥檚 a shame for the game,鈥� Motherwell coach Jens Berthel Askou said. 鈥淚t felt totally unreal.鈥�
The Danish coach said Nicholson’s arm was pushed and questioned if the ball ever even struck a hand. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 see it no matter what angle I look at. It鈥檚 a crazy thing to be part of.鈥�
McInnes agreed, saying: 鈥淚 thought I was missing something when I was watching it.鈥�
The Celtic view was different.
鈥淲e got a penalty which looks as if it鈥檚 pretty clear-cut,鈥� said Martin O鈥橬eill, the 74-year-old Celtic coaching great now on his second interim spell in a at the Glasgow giant.
Askou also articulated what many Scottish fans and pundits had said since a series of disputed VAR decisions at Celtic and Hearts games at the weekend.
鈥淚 think the big question is,鈥� Askou said, 鈥溾�橶hat are we even doing here?鈥�
The view of VAR
Video review of on-field decisions has been a maelstrom of debate since to a World Cup debut in 2018.
Still, the camera system 鈥� designed to eliminate 鈥渃lear and obvious errors鈥� by match officials 鈥� is probably most controversial in Britain. That is mostly not FIFA鈥檚 fault, but how match officials there interpret what they see.
The furor reached a Premier League peak Sunday.
Arsenal was clinging to a 1-0 lead, to stay clear of title rival Manchester City, when West Ham thought it scored from a stoppage-time corner to earn a point in its own fight against relegation.
It stemmed from a melee of seen at corners in most Arsenal games this season, and branded 鈥渨restlemania鈥� by some media.
After an unusually long video review, the match officials disallowed the goal for a foul on Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya. It was among at least five fouls committed by both teams as the ball arrived from the corner. Still images of the messy tangle were almost comical.
Had the West Ham goal stood, City would now be top of the Premier League with two rounds left after over Crystal Palace.
Arsenal and Celtic are favored to win titles in the next 10 days. The debate will surely rage in Britain for many years.
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