Pointed out for his whistle performance during France-Germany, Szymon Marciniak defended himself with force. He nevertheless admitted to having made mistakes, regretting one in particular.
Szymon Marciniak’s ears were ringing after the World Cup final. If the Pole managed to hold the debates, certain decisions earned him severe criticism. The penalty awarded to Argentina after a slight contact between Ousmane Dembélé and Angel Di Maria and the supposed forgotten foul on Kylian Mbappé at the start of the action which led to the second Argentine goal after an express counter-attack were thus singled out .
Strongly criticized, the Polish referee gave a press conference, blaming the media. Szymon Marciniak nevertheless admitted that he had undoubtedly made mistakes, even harboring regrets about an unwelcome whistle. “I interrupted a French counter-attack after a bad tackle from Marcos Acuna”, he confided.
I misinterpreted the situation
“I was afraid that the player who was fouled wanted revenge, and I misinterpreted the situation because nothing happened, I could have let the advantage and then come back to the foul by giving a card. It’s difficult. On an action like this, I make such a decision in the dark. But the important thing is that there were no big mistakes,” he continued.
Asked after the meeting, Didier Deschamps had taken care to measure his words but had not spared the 41-year-old referee. “I wish you hadn’t asked me the question. I will be careful what I say. He was as he was. It could have been worse, it could have been better. There are decisions that can lead to discussion, as has been the case in all matches. Before this match, the Argentinian team had not been unhappy, without saying that it had been advantaged. After the match, I will not say the opposite either. I don’t want to take away their merit. I had the opportunity to discuss the refereeing with someone after the match, well… I’m not going to go into detail, that’s how it is”he had launched, visibly bitter.