I have no problem with France winning the Nations League final today, 2-1 against Spain. France went down 0-1 on a goal by Mikel Oyarzabal, but as they had done against Belgium the French side fought back to win the match, firstly by a spectacular equalizer by Karim Benzama, and then a controversial winner by Kylian Mbappe.
The problem with the victory was Kylian Mbappe's winning goal: it was clearly off-side. This time the problem was not VAR, but was the referee's interpretation that a slight touch by the defender Eric Garcia, meant that Mbappe received the ball from the latter.
Although I have read that this constituted the (strange) interpretation of a rule whereby the pass is deemed to come from Eric Garcia. However, if this is correct, it is a dangerous interpretation: the pass from Theo Hernandez was clearly aimed at Mbappe, who was in an off-side position when the pass was made. Eric Garcia made an attempt to clear, but barely touched the ball as it reached its intended target. This was not an attempted pass from Garcia!
The great Kylian Mbappe was ice-cold in front of goal when given the opportunity.
France deserved to win, and congratulation to them, but it is clear that they won by a goal that in my opinion should not have been allowed to stand.
No comments:
Post a Comment