Harry Maguire was scathing of referee Wilton Sampaio after England's World Cup quarter-final defeat to France. The Three Lions missed a late penalty to take the game into extra-time after controlling the ball for much of the match, but fell short of progressing to a second consecutive semi-final.
France's opener, a brilliant long-range strike from Aurelien Tchouameni, was overshadowed by an earlier tackle on Bukayo Saka as England were attacking but Sampaio waved play on. Les Bleus then went to the other end and delivered an early blow. A similar situation occured again in the first half but didn't result in a clear-cut chance.
The world champions had 14 fouls throughout the game and received three yellow cards, but none until the 43rd minute, by which time they had been pulled up seven times. Maguire, who was booked late on in the game, wasn't happy with the refereeing performance.
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"The big decisions went against us, a lot of decisions went against us, should I say," he said after the match. "The referee's decision making throughout the game was really poor.
"We always stand here and as players we get criticised, it'd be nice to see if he comes out and says if he's had a good game or not because there were so many decisions in that first half."
England were given a second half penalty after VAR overturned Sampaio's on-field decision not to punish Theo Hernandez for a push on Mason Mount, but Harry Kane blazed his spot-kick over the bar. "They made five or six early fouls," Maguire continued.
"Harry [Kane] was outside the box but it's a clear foul, he doesn't give the penalty in the second half. Bukayo is a clear foul leading up to their first goal. It's just big moments and decisions and you expect them to get some right but unfortunately tonight we didn't get any."
The Manchester United defender's comments aren't the only ones being heavily critical of a referee this week either. Only on Friday, Lionel Messi tore into Antonio Mateu Lahoz. The match official for Argentina vs Netherlands handed out 16 cards in total during the match, including one during the penalty shoot-out that Messi's side won.
"I don’t want to speak about referees because after they will sanction you," he vented after the match despite coming out on top. "But people saw what happened. I think FIFA must take care of this, it cannot put a referee like that for a match of such magnitude, of such importance.
"The referee cannot fail to be up to the task. A lot of joy and relief. It wasn’t to go to penalty kicks. We suffered too much for how it all happened. But the it’s the quarter finals of the World Cup."
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