England defender Harry Maguire did not hold back in his assessment of the officiating from Wilton Sampaio after the Three Lions were eliminated from the World Cup at the hands of France.
Gareth Southgate's men suffered a 2-1 defeat that saw Harry Kane score one penalty but miss another in the last knockings to seal England's fate. Maguire feels his side were the victim of some harsh calls throughout the contest, including in the build-up to Les Bleus' opening goal early on in the first-half.
Bukayo Saka appeared to have been fouled just before Aurelien Tchouameni fired France in front from distance, while a trip on Harry Kane shortly after was reviewed by VAR but the referee's on-pitch decision of no penalty remained.
Following the full-time whistle, Maguire took aim at Sampaio over his performance, claiming: "Big decisions went against us, a lot of decisions went against us, should I say.
"We fought, we kept going, kept pushing, we created chance after chance and they’ve been clinical in two moments and that’s why they’re the world champions, and I’ll probably say that’s why they’re favourites for the tournament.
"I think the referee’s decision-making throughout the game was really poor. We always stand here and as players we get criticised – so it would be nice to see if he comes out and says whether he’s had a good game or not.
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"Because there were so many decisions in that first half where they made five, six early fouls. I think H [Harry Kane] was outside the box but it was a clear foul, he didn’t in the second half, Bukayo’s is a clear foul leading up to their first goal.
"Big moments, big decisions, you expect to get some right but unfortunately tonight we didn’t get any."
Maguire was not alone in his stance that the referee could have done better, with Manchester United legend and pundit Gary Neville echoing a similar sentiment while covering the clash on punditry duty for ITV.
Neville said: "The referee I thought he had an absolute nightmare, he was a joke of a referee, him.
"I’m not saying that was all down to England’s defeat, I think because people will say it’s just excuses, he was just a bad referee, rank bad."
Defeat means the Three Lions' lengthy wait for a major honour continues, while France will now play Morocco at the semi-final stage on Wednesday night.
