Lionel Messi’s goal
Fans are now crying foul over Argentinian player Lionel Messi for a goal they say should have been disallowed by the video assistant referee (VAR). The goal highlights the many flaws of the VAR and with refereeing at the recently concluded World Cup.
Argentina and France played a blockbuster finale at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, which the Argentinians won 4-2 on penalties after the match ended tied at 3-3.
While it gave Argentina its third World Cup title, after winning it twice in 1978 and 1986. Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe were expected to headline the contest and that was the case with the Frenchman becoming only the second player in history to score a hat trick in a final, Pele being the first.
Mbappe scored twice in the span of a minute before the regular 90 minutes, and then blasted a third goal from the penalty spot in the 118th minute.
The Argentine legend opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute, and he later went on to score another goal in the 108th.
But many French fans regretted that Argentina’s third goal shouldn’t have been allowed.
Messi managed to get the ball over the goal line following a rebound off Hugo Lloris to score Argentina’s third goal.
At first, it was thought there might have been an offside, but a TV replay proved it wasn’t the case. Martinez appeared to be standing next to the final defender.
Offside was not the topic of contention; instead, attention was drawn to the Argentine players watching from the sidelines.
Many viewers questioned whether Messi’s goal should have been allowed in the first place because they claimed that few of Argentina’s substitutes had already entered the field before the ball crossed the line.
However, this was apparently not the only controversy at the final.
A Malaysian news portal reports that Argentina’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez made a rude gesture with the Golden Glove award after being presented with the trophy for the World Cup’s best goalkeeper following their triumph over France.
The Argentina goalkeeper shocked fans watching the World Cup final when he made an obscene gesture after accepting the Golden Glove award following his performance in Argentina’s victory.
Argentina triumphed over France on penalties after the score was tied 3-3 until extra time. Martinez did brilliantly to save an attempt in the dying seconds of extra time to take the match to penalties.
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