‘It just feels like a computer game now’ – Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers’ VAR view

Maeda saw a yellow card upgraded to red following a VAR review midway through the first half at the Estadio Metropolitano, but Rodgers felt referee made the right call initially

 

Mario Hermoso was challenged to a 50/50 leg by the Japanese assailant, who injured himself in the process.

Antoine Griezmann’s deflected strike already had Celtic down, and Atletico capitalised on their numerical advantage. A series of sensational goals in the second half were scored by Atletico, including doubles from Griezmann and Alvaro Morata, as well as goals from Samuel Lino and Saul Niguez.

“I think the red card is a big turning point,” stated Aaron Rodgers. We got off to a strong, confident start and covered some really nice ground. Then, much to my dismay as I didn’t think it was a red card, we get an early player sent out.

“You can see that both players kick each other’s feet in the rerun. The umpire observed that in game time and then he is asked to look at it

“The picture he views initially does not accurately depict the challenge at hand. It’s a really, really soft red card, and you sow a seed when the first thing he sees is Daizen Maeda’s foot up, but it wasn’t the challenge.

“For a team coming here with 11 against 11, you would need to be at your real max to get something out the game and losing a man early, it becomes a real challenge and we tyre and they scored some fantastic goals.”

After the Maeda challenge, Diego Simeone, the manager of Atletico Madrid, and six or seven other players stormed into the technical area to retaliate, which infuriated Rodgers.

“They will play the game; they are clearly attempting to have our player sent off,” he declared.

“Hey, the referee still has the final say. Everyone will put more pressure on you when you leave Europe and arrive in a location like this, which is an emotional stadium.

The referee noticed it during play and didn’t think it was bad enough, but now football feels more like a computer game. several interactions with the screen and several affects in the game.

“As time passes, you can observe the impact of VAR and the challenges referees face. Many evaluations are made outside of the field.

It’s more about how the technology is used than the technology itself. I don’t find it enjoyable.

“I think everyone thought the utopia of VAR would mean we would lose all these bad decisions, so when it first came out, I was really hoping it would improve the game and support it.”

But one may counter that there’s even more now. There’s a good percentage where it just doesn’t feel right in the game.”

Following the red card, Rodgers stuck with a 4-3-2 configuration, substituting Oh Hyeon-gyu at halftime.

“You have seen my teams enough back home,” he replied. Every time a man leaves us, that structure is broken.

“Listen, against an opponent of that calibre, you may have any structure you like, but it can be quite challenging. We simply had no success with it, therefore we had to take our medication.”

Though they still have a chance to stay in Europe into Christmas, Celtic has to win both Lazio and Feyenoord and hope that Atletico does them a benefit. They are now ranked last in Group E but are still in the Champions League.

Rodgers stated: “We knew we needed to learn from this match, but because Lazio also prevailed, our goal with two games to go is to get points and see if we can improve on last season’s points total.”