Martin O’Neill blasts referee after Celtic’s controversial Celta Vigo defeat
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has criticised referee Georgi Kabakov following Thursday night’s 2-1 Europa League defeat to Celta Vigo.
The Hoops suffered their third consecutive defeat in the competition despite taking the lead through Mika Baur shortly after half-time at Celtic Park.
A quickfire double from Javi Rodriguez turned the contest in the Spanish side’s favour, leaving Celtic facing an uphill battle to qualify for the knockout stages.
However, O’Neill was particularly frustrated by two refereeing decisions, including an apparent foul on Camilo Duran moments before Celta’s equaliser.
Speaking to TNT Sports, the Celtic boss said: “We conceded a free-kick but I thought that just seconds before that, we had a foul for us. The referee has disowned that and given them a foul about ten seconds later. The they score from the free-kick.
“That’s just knocked us a little bit but there’s still plenty of time to recover at one-each in the game. But that’s given them a bit of momentum and they’ve carried it through.
“If Scales’ header goes in to make it 2-0, then we’ll get the three points. It’s fine margins.”
O’Neill, who was booked for protesting the decision leading to Celta’s equaliser, also questioned why Celtic were not awarded a foul when Callum Osmand went down inside the penalty area during the first half.
He continued: “First of all, I think it’s a foul against Osmand in the first half. The referee says VAR were checking it. I don’t know what they’re checking because for me that’s a very obvious foul.
“I thought it was a foul against Camilo as well too just before their equaliser but in the scheme of things, that seldom matters.
“I didn’t think it was one of his best games to be perfectly honest but we’ve been beaten in the game and we’ve lost three matches now.
“But remarkably, we’re still in with a chance. We’ve got to win and we’ve got to win here, we’ve got to win away from home.”
The defeat extends Celtic’s losing streak in European competition to four matches, stretching back to their Champions League play-off exit against LASK.
Having lost their opening three Europa League fixtures, the Scottish champions face an enormous challenge to secure a place in the knockout phase.
Nevertheless, O’Neill remains determined to turn Celtic’s European fortunes around, with five league-phase matches still to come against Besiktas, Torreense, Omonia, Marseille and Union Saint-Gilloise.
Reflecting on the club’s struggles on the continental stage, he added: “It has been a little while. We take the lead in the game, if we get the second goal we win the match and it changes the whole dynamic. It didn’t happen, that’s it – we need to try to find a way to win European games.”
