Hearts keeper Zdenek Zlamal has insisted that Celtic shouldn’t have been awarded a penalty in yesterday’s Scottish Cup final defeat – and is adamant he never made contact with Odsonne Eduoard.
The Celtic striker went down very easily with the Jambos 1-0 up at Hampden and ref Willie Collum didn’t hesitate to point to the spot – with replays suggesting he got it wrong.
(photo by Vagelis Georgariou/Action Plus via Getty Images)
Zlamal feels the decision effectively handed the trophy to Celtic, calling it the “most important reason” the Jambos lost.
“For me it’s absolutely not a penalty. I’m 100 per cent sure that I didn’t touch him. But the referee said penalty,” Zlamal said, as quoted by the Evening News.
(photo by Vagelis Georgariou/Action Plus via Getty Images)
“It’s very disappointing as well because I touched the ball, but it went in. It was the most important reason why we didn’t beat Celtic.”
Hearts played well yesterday and were more than a match for Celtic until Christophe Berra’s mistake gifted them the lead.
(photo by Vagelis Georgariou/Action Plus via Getty Images)
Collum will undoubtedly have taken a look at the incident after the game and it would be interesting to know if the ref feels he was conned.
If he does, then the Scottish FA’s compliance officer should be taking a look at it and potentially offer a ban to the Celtic striker.