Aberdeen boss reveals talks with officials about penalty incident against Celtic

Aberdeen faced Celtic in an exhilarating semi-final clash in the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park on Saturday, April 21. The game ended in a 3-3 draw after extra time before Celtic won it 6-5 on penalties to reach the final.

However, one incident took centre-stage just before the first 90 mins were over. Trailing 2-1, Aberdeen were looking for an equaliser. Junior Hoilett picked the ball up and appeared to have been fouled by Cameron Carter-Vickers in the penalty box.

The Dons understandably appealed and the referee Don Robertson blew the whistle but gave a foul to Celtic instead. Hoilett was deemed to have fouled Alistair Johnson before his clash against Carter-Vickers. Hence, instead of a penalty to Aberdeen, it was a foul for Celtic. VAR backed the referee’s decision as well.

Aberdeen boss reveals talks

After the game, the Dons caretaker manager Peter Leven revealed his chat with the officials regarding the incident and told BBC Scotland:

“I thought it was a penalty and they did say it was a penalty if it wasn’t a foul before it, but I’ve not seen it back.”

It was a thrilling game overall, which went right to the end. It started off with action straightaway as Bojan Miovski scored for Aberdeen in the second minute. Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn equalized for Celtic in the 21^st minute before James Forrest made it 2-1 for the Bhoys in the 63^rd minute.

Despite not getting the penalty on Junior Hoilett, Aberdeen did find their equalizer through Ester Sokler right in the 90th minute to take it to extra time. Celtic again took the lead in the first minute of first-half stoppage time through Matt O’Riley. The Dons then equalized in the 119^th minute through Angus Mac Donald.

In the penalty shootout, both sides had one penalty miss each in the first six penalties before Killian Phillips missed the deciding penalty for Aberdeen.

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Aberdeen boss proud of his side despite Scottish Cup exit

Peter Leven expressed pride in his side’s effort despite defeat against Celtic, saying after the game:

“Proud. I thought the boys gave everything. It’s a sickener at the end, obviously penalties are a bit of a lottery.

“Really proud how they fought and went toe-to-toe with Celtic. Yeah, at times we had to suffer in the second half with the low-block. But after that we showed a bit of character and we had chances to score more.”

Celtic, meanwhile, will face either Rangers or Hearts in the Scottish Cup final.