Ex-Fifa official can’t believe Rangers chaos as Michael Beale speaks out
Keith Hackett can’t believe the Scottish League Cup semi-final between Rangers and Aberdeen wasn’t stopped after communication issues between referee Nick Walsh and the VAR system.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee urged the Scottish FA to “learn” from the technical problems during the showpiece game.
In the eighth minute of extra time at Hampden Park, it was announced that VAR would not be in use for the remainder of the match due to communication issues which saw the game halted on three occasions – before it was reinstated minutes later.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Gers boss Michael Beale revealed he and his counterpart Jim Goodwin were happy to continue without VAR after a number of lengthy delays throughout the game.
Rangers booked their place in the Scottish League Cup final against holders Celtic with a 2-1 win over Aberdeen on Sunday (15 January) – with Dons defender Anthony Stewart seeing red at the end of normal time.
VAR was used for the first time in Scotland back in October and has been criticised heavily by Hoops boss Ange Postecoglou since its introduction.
When asked if the semi-final should have been halted, Hackett told Football Insider’s Ewan Kingsbury: “Yes.
“You’ve got to have consistency across the game.
“They’ll learn from it. It’s important that the Scottish FA react positively.
“This is the first part-season using VAR in Scotland.
“They will review it in detail.
“In reality, if the game starts with VAR, it has to finish with VAR. They should have stopped the game and waited for the link to come back.”
In other news, Football Insider updates as Dutch giants join race for Rangers target.