Joe Hart has blasted the decision to disallow Kelechi Iheanacho’s goal for Celtic in the Europa League against Braga, revealing he is ‘flabbergasted’ by the call. The Scottish Premiership champions lost 2-0 to the Portuguese side on Thursday night in the competition. Goals from Ricardo Horto and Gabri Martine condemned them to defeat. It continued their disappointing start to the competition, having only drawn their first game against FK Crvena Zvezda on September 24.
Things could have been very different, though, after Iheanacho appeared to equalise for Celtic in the second half. With the game at 1-0, the former Leicester City man found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and slotted the ball past him with ease. The joy was shortlived, though, and the strike was disallowed and once it was revealed why, there was uproar.
Iheanacho’s Strike Was Disallowed For Handball
Shortly after the 50-minute mark, Iheanacho rode a tackle and managed to find himself one-on-one, scoring in the process. After he scored, the goal was initially allowed to stand. VAR soon took a look, though, and officials disallowed the strike after deeming that he committed handball in the build up. Replays have shown that wasn’t actually the case, though. The ball ricocheted off of his shoulder, whereas the officials considered it his arm.
The decision to rule out the goal left former Celtic man Hart furious. Speaking after the call, he said:
“This is ridiculous. I presume there must be a bad wifi connection because that must be the only reason we are not getting on with this game. What? Are you seeing the same replays as me? The ball comes up, no touch, there hits his cheek. I’m flabbergasted. I could argue that it might glance the top of his shoulder, but that is not a crime.”
More to follow…

