Celtic have written to the SFA to demand answers after they were denied a penalty in Sunday’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Inverness.
Caley Thistle clinched a 3-2 win at Hampden and a place in the May 30 final with Falkirk, but only after referee Steven McLean and his officials missed what appeared to be a clear hand ball by Josh Meekings a yard off his own goal line as Leigh Griffiths looked to head home.
The Hoops were a goal ahead at the time of the incident, which took place just before half-time, and Parkhead manager Ronny Deila believes his side would have gone on to claim victory had the decision been given.
Striker Griffiths also claimed after the match that while arguing the call with McLean on the pitch, the referee said he had been informed by additional assistant referee Alan Muir who was stationed just five yards away from the incident that the ball had struck Meekings’ face.
Now Celtic have asked for an official explanation after their supporters reacted with outrage to the decision.
A statement on the club’s official website read: “With the club being inundated today, Celtic can confirm that it has written to the SFA regarding yesterday’s match, and in particular the incident involving Leigh Griffiths and Josh Meekings.
“First and foremost we absolutely congratulate Inverness Caledonian Thistle on reaching the Scottish Cup final. They are a fantastic club, and reaching the final is a great achievement.
“However, given the level of reaction from our supporters and across football, we are duty bound to seek an understanding of what actually happened.
“We have not been given any other specific explanation so far, and this is simply to understand the circumstances of what went on and why such an obvious error was made.”
Meanwhile, Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk insists their season will still be a success if they clinch the Scottish Premiership title.
Van Dijk is now looking to wrap up the title in style to get over his Hampden disappointment.
Celtic can reopen an eight-point lead over Aberdeen by winning at Dundee tomorrow ahead of the post-split fixtures.
“If we win the league we still improve from last year,” Van Dijk said.
“The disappointment is very high, everybody is down but we are professionals and we need to focus on Dundee. We need to move on.
“Wednesday night at Dundee is a big game, so we need to be ready for that.”
When asked about the Hampden penalty claim, the Dutch defender said: “It didn’t happen, so we can’t talk about it.
“We look at our own performance and we lost and we are not on for the treble anymore.”
Van Dijk opened the scoring at Hampden when he curled a free-kick in off the post, but himself and Jason Denayer were given a tough afternoon by the pacy Marley Watkins and powerful Edward Ofere, who scored Caley Thistle’s second goal.
“We gave everything,” he said. “With 10 men we kept on fighting. We had quality to score a goal, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”