From our special correspondent in Budapest,
It must be frustrating for 22 men to run around all night in a cauldron, do their best to put on a nice show and see one man – plus a few more in a truck – and his whistle tarnish such a beautiful poster. Yes, we will remember this Portugal-France as a beautiful poster from this group stage, but at the moment T, we can’t help but put a blast on Mr Lahoz, the Spanish referee of the part, whose only merit will have been to respect its geographical position between the two protagonists of the evening. But in the end, he will still have taken quite questionable decisions, especially on the three penalties (plus another forgotten) that we make the decision to judge. Let the accused enter.
26th: Penalty for Portugal and yellow card for Lloris
The action : On a free kick following a foul by N’Golo Kanté, João Moutinho shoots into the box. Lloris comes out with fist and elbow forward, in the head of Danilo Pereira. It’s yellow for the French captain.
The court’s opinion: The penalty is totally justified. Connor McGregor and Ronda Rousey have won UFC titles with less impressive shots on this uncontrolled outing by Hugo Lloris, who is doing very well with that yellow card. Admittedly, the gesture is not bad, but the exit is not controlled. Legend has it that Anthony Lopes cheered on the Portuguese bench. The double penalty would not have been too much.
45th: Penalty for the France team
The action : Mbappé and Pogba combine, the Pickaxe sends an opening in the area in the direction of the PSG striker, stopped dead in his race by Nelson Semedo. Kyky collapses and turns to Mr Lahoz. The referee blows his whistle and the VaR confirms.
The court’s opinion: At real speed and on the first slow motion, we tell ourselves that the decision is very nice, but not scandalous either. On the second and third slowdowns, we can clearly see the gesture of Semedo’s arm to send Mbappé to graze, who ends up falling. The trajectory of the ball, which went straight in six meters, has no effect on the decision taken by the referee, it is in the rule. Even Fernando Santos does not dare to complain too much in the post-match conference. “It’s an action that I have only seen from afar and that is difficult to analyze. In short, the penalty is justified, but the same thing would have been said if he had let play.
58th: Penalty for Portugal
The action : Cristiano Ronaldo tries a cross to the left of the box. The ball finds Jules Koundé’s arm on its way. M.Lahoz points to the penalty spot.
The court’s opinion: RAS, the Sevillian’s arm moves anywhere, even if basically his gesture is physically consistent with the movement of his body. Didier Deschamps will say of Koundé that he is “unhappy”, but the fault is very real.
89th: Non-whistled penalty on Coman
The action : King overflows on the left and drops Bruno Fernandes who throws the Frenchman to the ground at the entrance to the Portuguese area. The VAR decides there is nothing.
The court’s opinion: Far be it from us to play the plotters, but we still have the damn impression that the guys in front of the screens in their trucks wanted the game to end in a 2-2 draw, just in case Germany would mess around one last time in stoppage time against Hungary. There are 36 times a fault, it is absolutely indisputable. The only reason that could explain the decision is that the VAR considered that the fault was committed outside the area and therefore outside its field of action. She can not therefore contradict the decision of the referee, who did not flinch. But watching the action a thousand times, it seems very clear: Kingsley Coman is in the box, period. We may have deprived the Blues of a second victory and Karim Benzema of a hat-trick. Total scandal.