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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Robbie Copeland

Kris Boyd in Celtic handball claim as James McFadden makes 'eyes closed' quip in Rangers hero response

Kris Boyd was "100 per cent" certain Liel Abada used a hand at Celtic's opening goal in their win over St Johnstone as he renewed his calls for VAR to be introduced in Scottish football.

But fellow Sky Sports pundit James McFadden claimed the former Ibrox striker would have been sure of the infringement even with his eyes closed!

The Hoops picked up a crucial win on the road against the Saints with Abada 's first-half double getting them on their way to a 3-1 victory.

However there was some post-match debate about his first with some claiming his attempted header actually went in off his arm.

It was a marginal call, the likes of which has had many in Scottish football calling for the introduction of VAR in recent months.

And Rangers hero Boyd used the incident to reignite that debate as he spoke on Sky Sports after the game.

Boyd said: “It’s a handball and it leads to a goal. It hits his hand and goes in the back of the net.

“Get VAR into Scottish football. We’ve got this break - I know it’s not going to happen but get working on it!

“There’s so many incidents happening that are talking points. It needs to be rectified. People will blame the referee and linesman but they have no chance of seeing that from their position.

“They need help. They need to find the funds from somewhere to get VAR into Scottish football.

“Liel Abada had a desire to go and win the ball and Callum Davidson must be raging with the defending."

However Boyd's former Scotland teammate McFadden was quick to retort, asking how he could have been so sure when he "had his eyes shut."

And he wasn't so convinced it was a handball.

He retorted: “It hits his arm. I don't think he leads with his arm. There’s angles where it doesn’t look like it hits his arm but if you get that one angle it will tell you conclusively it hits his arm.

“You can’t then look at the referee and assistant because we’ve had to watch it again and again and again so if you get VAR then it clears it up.

“We had to watch it again and again and we’re still not 100 per cent although Kris Boyd had his eyes shut and he was 100 per cent!"

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