Ange Postecoglou's Celtic propelled themselves seven points clear at the top of the SPFL Premiership with a 4-2 win over Dundee United on Saturday.

Sead Haksabanovic's double was cancelled out by a Steven Fletcher penalty and Dylan Levitt's fortunate cross before Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada struck to win the match for the Hoops.

The incident that led to Fletcher's penalty was a controversial one. Celtic defender Alexandro Bernabei rose to flick the ball away, missed it and was then struck on the arm by Fletcher's attempted header while still in mid-air.

After a lengthy VAR check Bernabei was booked and the spot-kick was awarded.

That decision was met with disbelief by BBC's Leanne Crichton, who said: "For me, it’s not a penalty. That’s incredible. There’s not a chance that it’s deliberate. It’s a crazy decision to book him. It’s on target, so I can understand why the ref has looked at it."

Steven Thompson disagreed, however, insisting "I think it's a penalty" before also going on to add "I know he can't do anything and he doesn't see it and he shouldn't have been booked as it wasn't deliberate".

Michael Stewart was even more irked by the whole affair. He told BBC Sportsound: "I can't believe you guys in the studio are not more incredulous about that handball at Celtic Park. I've just seen that and that is absolutely horrific from the officials.

"How can you give a penalty against Bernabei for that? Clueless. That is horrific.

"If you're arm is outstretched like that as a consequence of your body movement, it is not a handball."

Celtic Way:

On Celtic TV, meanwhile, host Gerry McCulloch said "it's just ridiculous" while former club stalwart Tom Boyd on co-comms was incredulous.

He said: "He [Bernabei] is putting his arms out for balance. Unbelievable! Referees need to go back to school.”

Studio pundit Simon Donnelly went into detail on the incident at half-time, saying: “The movement of his [Bernabei's] arm is away from the body, he’s turned away and it’s the top part of his arm, which is very, very harsh.

"The cross comes in and he tries to head it away initially. He is up in mid-air. I don't know anyone who can jump and not have their arms moving, he goes with his momentum, the ball is behind his back.

"His trailing arm, and the ball his headed off his arm. Now the rules of the game, I believe that is a penalty. But the rules are wrong. It is not a penalty. The referees will tell us that is the rules."

Read Tony Haggerty's detailed Celtic player ratings from the Dundee United match HERE