Bobby Madden's verdict on 2 big Celtic vs Rangers Scottish Cup final calls as crucial VAR role highlighted

Bobby Madden has outlined why he feels the right decisions were made on the TWO biggest talking points in Celtic's 1-0 win against Rangers in the Scottish Cup final.

In the goalless first half at Hampden, the Hoops were left up in arms when the ball struck Rangers defender Ben Davies on the arm after Kyogo had failed to make clean contact with Greg Taylor's cross. However John Beaton - who was on VAR duty on Saturday - decided not to intervene and call on field referee Nick Walsh over to review it back on the monitor.

Via his Instagram account, former top-flight referee Madden has now given his backing to the decision made by the officiating team around the incident. He wrote: " Correct decision - no penalty. This is absolutely not punishable. The ball is played by the attacker from such a short distance so the ball is unexpected, the defenders arm does not move towards the ball and does not make the body unnaturally bigger. I really hope there is a reset over the summer regarding handball and everyone can accept this is not a penalty."

The second controversial moment of the match arrived just shy of the hour mark, when Rangers thought they had gone in front after Abdallah Sima bundled the ball home from James Tavernier's in-swinging corner. However, following a VAR check, the goal was then chalked off with the officiating team deeming that Nicolas Raskin's push on Celtic keeper Joe Hart was a foul. Madden, who retired from refereeing last year, once again backed the decision made at Hampden in a detailed examination of the scenario.

He explained: "This goal is correctly disallowed following and on field review. With so much going on at corners these offences are almost impossible to detect live by match officials, and