Celtic fans take to Twitter to lambaste referee after Valencia defeat

Yesterday evening saw Celtic bow out of the Europa League after they were unable to overturn their 2-0 defeat in the home leg when they travelled to the Mestalla to take on Valencia. However, they may have been able to overcome the Spaniards had the referee not sent off their young German loanee Jeremy Toljan.

37′ – Red card for #CelticFC as Jeremy Toljan receives a second yellow, following a caution ten minutes earlier from the German.

– #VCFCEL #UEL

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) 21 February 2019

The Hoops gave it a really good go in Spain, and whilst they were certainly the better side in the first half they were mightily unlucky to be reduced to ten men. The first booking that Toljan picked up came after both Dedryck Boyata and Kristoffer Ajer, who was a class above on the night, both picked out sloppy passes, leading the German to tug back Goncalo Guedes on the counter-attack.

That first booking, whilst incredibly frustrated and of their own making, was justified. However, the second one is up for debate. It was again adjudged to be a foul on the impressive Portuguese winger Guedes, but on replay, the winger appeared to be offside and he came through the back of the unsuspecting Toljan. There will certainly be debate over the sending off, but the Hoops cannot understand how even if it deemed a foul, how it’s ever been given as a red card.

You can read the Bhoys’ thoughts on Toljan’s dismissal here:

https://twitter.com/BenTheTim/status/1098652376351887361

Shocking decision but in honesty, the silly earlier yellow always left him walking on eggshells…all because a very sloppy Boyata pass put us under needless pressure.

— Brian (@DehumanisedDad) 21 February 2019