Roma miss penalty 3 times in Europa League and Celtic denied by ‘baffling’ VAR decision

Roma missed three attempts at an equalizing penalty, Celtic had an equalizer ruled out after a “baffling” VAR decision and Nottingham Forest remained winless under Ange Postecoglou after a dispiriting loss in the Europa League on Thursday.

Aston Villa seem to have firmly shaken off their early-season struggles, though, as captain John McGinn scored again in a 2-0 win over Feyenoord for the English team’s third straight victory in all competitions.

Celtic were left to rue a strange VAR decision as they lost 2-0 to Braga after an earlier equalizer was ruled out for handball, even though replays seemed to clearly show that Kelechi Iheanacho had scored the goal without any use of his arm. The VAR took several minutes to review the incident before upholding the referee’s initial decision to disallow the goal, which Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers lamented as “baffling.”

An even stranger scene took place in Rome, where the home team lost 1-0 to Lille even though it was given three tries to equalize from the penalty spot late in the game. The first two efforts from Artem Dovbyk were both saved by goalkeeper Berke Ozer — only for the referee to order the penalty to be retaken each time because of encroachment.

Roma then switched penalty takers to Matias Soule, but Ozer saved that one as well, diving to his right to punch the ball away in the 85th minute — nearly four minutes after Dovbyk had made his first attempt.

Hakon Arnar Haraldsson had put Lille ahead with an angled shot in the sixth minute at Stadio Olimpico, which was enough for the French club to earn a second win in two games.

Pressure grows on Postecoglou

Nottingham Forest lost 3-2 to Danish club Midtjylland in their first home game in a European competition in