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🚨🎙️Thierry Henry on why Celtic’s goal should have been ruled out as offside and Hearts have a case for a 3-0 forfeit, applies the laws of the game to it:
“Football laws are supposed to be based on consistency, not emotion. And when you actually break this game down properly, there are two enormous controversies that, in my opinion, completely changed the outcome of the title race and the SPFL just let it happen.
First, that Maeda ‘goal’ that made it 2-1? It should never have stood. Law 11 is crystal clear: Offside is judged at the moment the ball is played by a teammate. The scorer was offside when the initial pass went in, lurking in an illegal position for a good 3 seconds, gaining a massive positional advantage. Then he benefits from it and pokes it home. That’s gaining an advantage from an offside position, textbook offence. VAR drew their lines on the ‘second pass’ and said ‘onside,’ but that’s gaslighting. The player carried the illegal head-start straight into the goal. They hand Celtic the title momentum. Disgraceful.
Then comes the real scandal. Osmand bangs in the third with 30+ seconds left, game has to restart. Kick-off, more time to be played. Instead? Thousands of Celtic fans storm the pitch. Hearts players assaulted, shoved, punched, chased. Lawrence Shankland and others physically attacked. Chaos. No proper restart. Game abandoned due to home fans’ violence.
Law 5,The Referee: Full authority to abandon for outside interference. When one side’s supporters prevent the match from finishing and assault the opposition? Forfeit. Precedents exist, teams have been handed 3-0 losses for far less pitch invasions. SPFL/SFA competition rules allow awarding the match to the innocent team. Hearts players had to be escorted out for safety. The game was never completed fairly.
look at Slavia Prague recently getting a forfeit 3-0 loss for a similar pitch invasion in their derby. Fans storm, game can’t finish? Opponents get the win. Simple.
That’s why this game will always leave a stain on the title race for a lot of people. A controversial offside interpretation followed by a match that technically never reached its proper sporting conclusion because of crowd interference. And somehow Celtic come away with the league-winning result untouched.
Football rules are either applied equally or they mean nothing.”
English
