2022 World Cup final referee Szymon Marciniak has revealed the incident he believes he got wrong during Argentina’s triumph over France.
An action-packed game eventually saw La Albiceleste emerge victorious on penalties, though not before Kylian Mbappe had dragged Les Bleus back into the contest with a hat trick.
The World Cup had a number of questionable moments from referees but Marciniak’s performance largely drew praise. He awarded three penalties, cautioned Marcus Thuram for diving and spent little time consulting VAR.
However, he has now revealed the one error he thinks he made during the final at Lusail Iconic Stadium.
“Of course, there were mistakes in this final,” he told Sport.PL. “I interrupted the French counter-attack after a bad tackle by Marcos Acuna.
“I was afraid that the fouled player wanted to unwind, and I read it wrong because nothing happened, and you could give an advantage and then come back with a card.
“It’s hard. In a game like this, I take such a mistake in the dark. The important thing is that there were no big mistakes.”
French newspaper L’Equipe have claimed Lionel Messi’s goal shouldn’t have stood because some of Argentina’s substitutes had encroached onto the pitch, though the French replacements had committed the same infringement for one of Mbappe’s strikes.
