Celtic's VAR Drama: Unlucky with Decisions or Simply Poor in Loss to Portuguese Side?

Kelechi Iheanacho described it as "an awful decision". Teammate Sebastian Tounekti said it was "unbelievable". Former Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart opted for "absurd".

The Celtic boss lamented what turned out as a "huge moment" when the Scottish side saw an equalizing effort disallowed early in the second half in their Europa League match.

Iheanacho believed he had leveled the score for the home side when he struck a effort with his left foot into the opposite side after breaking past a poor tackle attempt.

However, after a lengthy review, VAR Christian Dingert advised the match official to rule out the strike because of a potential handball, despite replays appearing to show the ball making contact with the player's head.

"It didn't hit my hand, and that altered the game," Iheanacho stated.

Add in a few superb stops by Braga goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek and the disappointment is likely justified.

However during the match, the Scottish champions committed mistakes of their own.

On 20 minutes, Ricardo Horta's strike from 33 yards swerved and dropped towards Kasper Schmeichel's goal, but the experienced Danish goalkeeper flapped at it and was left sprawled on the turf as the Portuguese opposition cheered the first goal.

A further defensive error in the latter period led to Dane Murray's attempted clearance ricocheting off Gabri Martinez and into the goal.

The situation didn't improve in attack for Rodgers' side, who spent large portions of the second half with last season's top scorer - the Japanese international - at right wing-back.

The Glasgow side drew a blank for the fifth occasion in a dozen matches this season - the same number in which they failed to score in the entirety of last season.

The Celtic manager switched to a back three at half-time in an attempt to generate momentum, with Maeda dropping into a more defensive position and the substitute replacing Colby Donovan.

The home side showed improvement and when Iheanacho got past the opposition keeper, the hosts were the team dominating.

This positive spell was halted by a lengthy video review, the outcome of which was unfathomable to most - if not all - at Parkhead.

Ex-Celtic champion Hart - on broadcasting work - was certain the goal would be given at the time of the incident.

"There's VAR reviewing for handball potentially spoiling everyone's enjoyment, but no, it comes off his head," Hart remarked.

"What could they possibly be waiting for? They must be watching a different replay to me. Why are we delaying the game for? This is unacceptable."

In post-match comments, those in the Celtic camp were equally perplexed. "It was never a handball, it's unbelievable that the official disallowed that," the midfielder stated.

"We reviewed the video over again and I discussed with Kele about it. I'm very curious in what the video official saw because that was definitely not a handball."

"I think if that goal was allowed we would emerge victorious without doubt."

Rodgers, too, was at a loss at how the officials reached the decision they did.

"There's absolutely no way, whatever way you view it, [Iheanacho] has touched it [with his hand]," the Celtic manager declared. "That's a huge moment in the game."

The majority of the post-game attention was on the disallowed effort, but the goalkeeper's error gave the advantage to the Portuguese side.

The effort from distance had an expected-goals value of just minimal probability, but it got past the 38-year-old goalkeeper's grasp.

"He must be extremely upset with it," Rodgers commented. "It's a decent shot and it's obviously moved a little bit, but I didn't get to speak to him about it."

Beyond the defensive errors, this was another match where Celtic have failed to fire this term.

Maeda is being played out of position to make space for Tounekti, while all central partnerships Rodgers has experimented with has been ineffective and intensity.

They were unable to defeat Kazakh side Kairat Almaty over extended play as they dropped out of the Champions League.

And this is the earliest point into a season in which Celtic have had five matches without scoring since the early nineties.

Fans have pointed out the apparent shortage of recruitment investment in the summer.

However Celtic's struggles stretch back to February, when they ran Bayern Munich close before being knocked out of the premier European competition.

Since then, they have failed to win in 12 of 27 matches in every tournament.

"It was a disappointing display from Celtic," former Scotland forward James McFadden said. "Missing the usual standard, something we're not used to seeing with this team."

"In my view the tactical adjustment at half-time provided some improvement, but in the end the visitors deserved the win."

Defensive errors and a lack of offensive threat is seldom a winning combination.

"Not enough intent for me," ex-keeper Bonner observed. "Possession play is acceptable, moving it around, but insufficient real intent in that final third."

"Poor defensive organization and big, big mistakes from the goalkeeper."