The fallout of Sunday’s final match of the FIFA World Cup has continued to generate more controversies than expected after French press claimed that Argentina’s third goal should not have been allowed because two ’emotional substitutes’ ran onto the pitch before Lionel Messi’s strike had crossed the line.
Having raced into a two-goal lead before half time with goals from Messi and Angel Di Maria, Argentina were pegged back when Kylian Mbappe scored twice in two minutes to take the game to extra time.
The controversial moment then arrived in the 108th minute as Lautaro Martinez was played through on goal. His effort was well saved by Hugo Lloris, but Messi was on hand to tap home the rebound from close range.
However, French outlet L’Equipebelieve the goal should have been chalked off by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak and his team of officials.
Underneath the headline, “Why Argentina’s third goal shouldn’t have been awarded’, they claim that ‘two emotionally charged substitutes” entered the pitch before Messi’s shot crossed the line which is ‘strictly prohibited’.
goal to force penalties.
They managed to do just that as Mbappe fired home a penalty to complete his hat-trick after his shot had been blocked by the arm of Gonzalo Montiel.
This meant penalties were needed to decide the winners and, after Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni both failed to convert their spot-kicks, it was left to Montiel to redeem himself by scoring the winning penalty.
France narrowly missed out on winning their second successive World Cup and were beaten on penalties in the final for the second time in 16 years after losing in the same agonising fashion against Italy in 2006.
The French media appear to feel that Sunday’s match may not have needed penalties, though, if Argentina’s third goal had been ruled out.
