Rangers

(Credit: TNT Sports)

Keith Hackett

Fri 11 April 2025 16:00, UK

Keith Hackett has hit out at VAR following the goalless draw between Rangers and Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League quarter final.

The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that it was a “guess” to penalise a deliberate handball from Dujon Sterling when any intent was dubious at best, also criticising a check for offside in the same incident after the visitors had the ball in the net.

Barry Ferguson‘s side took on the La Liga outfit at Ibrox on Thursday Night (10 April), in what proved to be a controversial encounter.

Rangers went down to ten men after just 13 minute when Robin Propper was sent off for denial of a goalscoring opportunity, and there would be further drama to come.

Keith HackettKeith Hackett has taken aim at how VAR is usedRangers concede penalty after goal ruled out

After holding out until late in the second half, the hosts’ ten men looked as though they had gone behind when Alex Berenguer fired home from close range after a long ball fell his way inside the area.

However, there was then a long VAR check, initially to analyse if there had been any Athletic Bilbao player offside in the build-up.

MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES

After replays showed there was not, rather than award the goal the Basque side were then given a penalty for handball against Rangers full-back Dujon Sterling, which captain James Tavernier revealed afterwards he had been told was considered to be deliberate.

Rangers last five games Result Fenerbahce (H) Lost 2-0 (won 3-2 on penalties) Celtic (A) Won 3-2 Dundee (A) Won 4-3 Hibernian (H) Lost 2-0 Athletic Bilbao (H) Drew 0-0

All competitions

Jack Butland had been the Rangers hero in the penalty shootout win over Fenerbahce in the last round of the competition.

But after some high-profile errors, the 32-year-old had been dropped to the bench for this match, and instead it was Liam Kelly who kept out Berenguer’s penalty to keep Rangers level.

Now, Hackett has taken aim at VAR both for checking for offside in the first place, and then for awarding a penalty for handball against Sterling.

Keith Hackett criticises VAR over penalty drama

Speaking to Football Insider about the decision to give a penalty against Rangers, the former referee said:

“I do not see this as deliberate handball and more of a guess by the officials rather then looking for the factual evidence rather than an after though.

“I was surprised that a penalty kick was awarded when you look at the replays of this particular incident, you have to determine if the player has deliberately handled the ball.

“For me, this is not the case. There’s a natural movement of the body and the ball strikes, but it’s not deliberate, wrong decision for me. Fortunately the penalty was saved.“

On the issue of VAR looking for problems as opposed to leaning towards giving a goal, Hackett then added: “One of the worrying trends that I see in the use of VAR is rather than finding a reason to allow a goal, we appear to be taking steps to actually strike them off.

“In the game we saw a search by VAR to determine if a player was offside, the answer was no. Then the next thing was ‘oops, we’ve got handball here!’

“Which they did not go to initially. So looking at the replays they determined that this was a handball, and was a penalty kick.

“I would remind the officials to take a view that says ‘why should we allow this goal’ and not look for reasons to disallow it.

“For me I have to say that finding that as a deliberate in order to award a penalty kick that was thankfully saved, is not the way to use VAR.”

Ahead of the second leg in Spain next week, Rangers are due to take on Aberdeen at Pittodrie in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday afternoon (13 April).

Related Posts