Graeme Souness said Bruno Fernandes “mugged off” Uruguay defender Jose Maria Gimenez in the lead-up to Portugal’s second goal in Monday’s 2-0 win.
The Manchester United midfielder nutmegged the Atletico Madrid star while he was going to ground and the ball hit Gimenez's supporting hand, leading to the referee awarding a penalty following an intervention from the VAR.
Fernandes stepped up to coolly slot the ball home in stoppage time and grab his second of the game after being awarded his country’s first of the night on 54 minutes. There had been debate over who had grabbed the opener with Cristiano Ronaldo running off in celebration after claiming to have got a nick on Fernandes’ cross into the box.
READ MORE: Bruno Fernandes addresses Cristiano Ronaldo goal claim for Portugal
Although extremely close, the lack of clarity led to Fifa determining that he actually had not got his head to the ball and so gave the goal to the United No. 8 instead. While that was a topic of discussion post-match, the awarding of the penalty also raised eyebrows.
Several pundits questioned the decision, including Souness. The Liverpool great was keen to point out Giminez’s naivety in sliding into Fernandes on the edge of the area and admitted the Portugal hero had embarrassed him, although he didn’t agree with the awarding of the spot kick.
Speaking on ITV, Souness said: “The first thing you have to say is the challenge is a joke, diving in like that, why is [Gimenez] going to ground like that, in that situation? He’s playing against a good player in Fernandes, he mugged him off and got a penalty from it. After that, it’s subjective - it’s a fancy word for ‘my opinion’. The referee got it wrong.”
Fellow pundit Joe Cole was not convinced by the decision either. “The ref has had an absolute nightmare, you can’t give a penalty for that. It’s a horrendous decision from the referee and it cost Uruguay.”
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