The FIFA World Cup Final concluded with Argentina victory where Lionel Messi stole the show. The South American team beat France by 4-2 in the penalties despite Mbappe’s remarkable efforts.
The match also gave birth to a controversy concerning Messi’s second goal in the extra time. Many in the football fraternity claim that the goal was illegitimate, and they are now questioning the referee’s decision for it.
The FIFA World Cup Final referee has now broken his silence on this controversy. A leading French Publication L’Equipe had questioned the legitimacy of the goal in an article claiming as to why Argentina’s second should not have been awarded.
In the article the publication claimed that an extra player was present in the field at the time the second goal was scored, and the goal must be disallowed. It further said that the play should also have been restarted with the direct free kick from the position where the extra person was.
Speaking to the French media, the Polish Referee Szymon Marciniak opened up and said that while the French publication is raising questions of an extra player present at the time of Argentina’s or precisely Messi’s second goal, it did not draw attention towards an extra French substitute during one of Mbappe’s goal.
In a press conference, Szymon showed a photo through his phone where a French substitute is seen entering into the field while Mbappe scored his second goal. He later admitted that for sure there was one mistake.
He mentioned the interruption done by him of the French counterattack after a bad tackle by Marcos Acuna.
He further justified that he was afraid that maybe the player who was fouled wanted to unwind. Moreover, he added that these types of small mistakes are inevitable in the match and the important point is that there were no big mistakes.