Losing the World Cup final has caused quite a stir in France. The head of jut was the Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, who, according to the French sports newspaper L’Équipe, should have disallowed Lionel Messi’s goal in extra time. Marciniak came back to that particular phase in his home country: “This is not a serious activity.”
Jens Jacobs
While Lionel Messi set the whole of Argentina on fire by propelling the Argentines to the world title, the disappointment in the losing camp was particularly great. Kylian Mbappe and co. were defeated after the lost penalty shootout. But the missed world title also hit France hard.
The French L’Équipe sought and found a scapegoat in the person of referee Szymon Marciniak. It only gave the Pole a two out of ten for his performance in the World Cup final. Lionel Messi’s goal in extra time in particular caused a stir among the French. While the ball had not yet crossed the line, some Argentinian players already stormed onto the field to celebrate. “And so the goal had to be disallowed,” wrote the French newspaper.
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Marciniak himself came back to the criticism of the French at a press moment in Poland. The Polish ref took his smartphone out of his pocket to show that the French had no right to speak as they did the same with Kylian Mbappé’s goal.
“The French have not said anything about these photos, where you can see that there were seven French players on the pitch before Mbappé scored,” Marciniak said. “The game was never affected. How much impact did the players who came onto the field have? It’s looking for little things. This is not a serious business.”
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According to Marciniak, the French players themselves were satisfied with the performance of the ref. “The French thanked me after the game and were satisfied with our performance. Everyone came up to us and shook our hands. I talked a little bit with Hugo Lloris and Olivier Giroud. Kylian Mbappé even gave me a hug. He was very disappointed by the loss. I think it was a human response. I also hugged him and tried to comfort him.”
