Furor over VAR decision now fuels anger in Scottish soccer's title race following England row

Just days after English soccer had what many said was its most controversial VAR call , Scotland said: Hold my beer. Two league title races on a knife edge, two hugely consequential refereeing decisions that provoked equal amounts of anger, confusion and conspiracy theories. Also delight for Celtic, which benefited from the disputed call Wednesday just as Arsenal did Sunday.

“It’s actually quite disgusting,” said Derek McInnes, coach of Scottish Premiership leader Hearts after seeing the handball incident that gave Celtic a last-minute penalty in a 3-2 win at Motherwell. “It’s such a bad decision,” said McInnes, who takes his Hearts team to Celtic for a final showdown Saturday with a one-point lead in the standings. That lead could — and most in Scotland seemed to believe should — be three points.

Results on the field Wednesday evening in Scotland was the second-last round of games in a title race for the ages. Unheralded Hearts has led the league for months trying to bring the trophy back to the club after a 66-year wait. Hearts easily beat Falkirk 3-0 at the same time as Celtic's back-and-forth drama at Motherwell.

A tense split-screen evening got clearer focus in the closing minutes. Motherwell leveled at 2-2 in the 85th minute at Fir Park, just before Hearts got its third in the 86th at a Tynecastle Park pulsating with the noise of 19,000 raucous fans. If those results stood, Hearts would go to Celtic able to lose by two clear goals Saturday and still win the title on the tiebreaker of goal difference.