Brendan Rodgers accuses VAR of 'guessing' major call as Celtic boss demands 'conclusive evidence'

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has requested 'conclusive evidence' that the ball was out of play after VAR ruled out a late equaliser for his side in the 2-1 defeat to Hibs at Easter Road.

Daizen Maeda thought he had rescued a point for Celtic with his second goal of the match when he fired into the roof of the net in the 83rd minute after Alistair Johnston's cutback from the byline was spilled into his path by goalkeeper Jordan Smith.

Referee Steven McLean initially awarded the goal after his linesman ruled that the ball had not crossed the line before Johnston reached Reo Hatate’s overhit pass, only for the decision to be overruled by VAR much to the dismay of the away side.

Rodgers questioned the intervention of Alan Muir on VAR claiming that the camera angle available was not sufficient for him to overrule the onfield decision.

Celtic's Daizen Maeda scores in the 2-1 defeat to Hibs before VAR ruled it out for the ball being out of play in the build up. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group) | SNS Group

"Well, I'm hoping to see conclusive evidence that it was out," the Celtic boss said. "The linesman on this side, he had his flag up quite a lot today.

"But for the goal, he probably has one of the best views in the ground and he kept his flag down, which tells me that he felt it was in. Not all of the ball was out.

"So if it's the case, then you've got to go and review it with VAR. But then you're taking an angle from the 18-yard line. If you're taking the angle from the 18-yard line, and you can tell me that you can absolutely say 100 per cent, then you're having a guess.

"These are big games to be guessing, especially at this point in the season. So we were disappointed with that, and that's what killed our momentum a little bit.

“I felt it was very harsh on the team. We get to two each, then we've still got enough time to go and find a winner."

Celtic were 2-0 down at half-time to a Josh Campbell double before Maeda pulled one back in the second half as the Hoops crashed to only their second domestic defeat of the season while Hibs extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches.

Rodgers refused to be overly critical of his players after their midweek exertions in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, where Celtic led the Bundesliga giants before suffering a 94th minute sucker punch.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers shouts at the linesman during the 2-1 defeat to Hibs at Easter Road. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group) | SNS Group

"No, listen, these players have been brilliant for me," he said. "They absolutely have. We're disappointed with our start to the game, because you know when you come away to tough grounds away from home, then you have to make a good start in the game.

"We conceded an awful goal so that gives the crowd a little something to hang on to. We had some good moments in the first half, but not too many.

"Then we conceded a disappointing goal right on half-time. So we have a bit of work to do then. We made the changes to try and regenerate the team.

"In the second half, we were excellent. We were much more like our game and got the goal. Like I say, we were much, much better."