Brendan Rodgers expressed his frustration with modern football’s use of VAR, likening it to a “computer game” after his team’s 6-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid. The Celtic boss who was not satisfied with the decisions given by the VAR officials during their loss to the Atletico Madrid, the match took a controversial turn when Daizen Maeda received a red card following a VAR intervention.
Initially, Maeda was shown a yellow card, but the decision was upgraded to red after a VAR review.
Brender Rodgers believed that the referee had made the right call initially, as Maeda’s challenge on Mario Hermoso seemed like a 50-50 duel, and both players made contact. However, the referee changed his decision after viewing the VAR footage, and this had a significant impact on the game.
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Atletico Madrid had already taken the lead with a deflected strike from Antoine Griezmann, and with the numerical advantage, they capitalized on Celtic’s situation. Griezmann and Alvaro Morata each scored twice, while Samuel Lino and Saul Niguez also found the net with spectacular goals in the second half.
Brendan Rodgers Expresses His Disappointment At The End Of The Game
Rodgers argued, “It just feels like a computer game now, football. So many visits to the screen, and so many influences in the game. As time has gone on, you see the influence of VAR and the difficulties referees have. It’s not something I enjoy.”
Celtic, now at the bottom of Group E, face an uphill battle to progress in the Champions League. They must secure victories against Lazio and Feyenoord while hoping for some help from other results to keep their European hopes alive beyond the group stage.
Rodgers acknowledged the challenges of facing top-level opponents with a man down and maintained that his team needed to regroup for the remaining matches. Despite the frustrations with VAR, he remained focused on improving Celtic’s points total compared to the previous season in European competition.
