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Rabat – French football fans have filed an online petition to replay the Qatar World Cup final match between Argentina and France, which ended with the Latin American country clinching the title.
The petition has so far been signed by at least 219,000 die-hard French fans, who are unhappy with the outcome of the match and believe that the referee of the game made biased decisions and favored the Argentinians.
The match, which took place last Sunday at the Lusail Stadium in Doha, ended with Argentina defeating France 4-2 on penalties after a riveting 3-3 tie and lifting their third World Cup trophy. The game was officiated by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak.
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“The refereeing was totally sold, there was never a penalty + foul for Mbappe on the 2nd goal!!!,” reads the description of the petition. It suggests that a foul should have been granted for French player Kylian Mbappe in the build-up to the second Argentinian goal, and that Argentina’s first goal, the penalty that Lionel Messi converted, should not have stood.
The petition, which was created on French online petition websiteMesOpinions (My Opinions), has so far garnered more than 91,000 comments from Les Bleus’ supporters, who echoed the same sentiment of unfair and biased refereeing.
“We want to replay this match because the referee was on the Argentinians’ side and only whistled for French fouls,” said one of the petitioners.
Another petitioner said that there were “serious refereeing errors for a World Cup final,” adding that the referee should have consulted with the VAR room to avoid these “rookie mistakes.”
While this campaign comes nearly a week after the World Cup final, France’s head coach had already pointed to the sentiments being expressed now right after his side lost to Argentina in the penalty shootout.
Speaking at a press conference after the World Cup final, Didier Deschamps pointed out that “Argentina has never had bad luck with refereeing” at the global tournament, adding that there were “questionable decisions, as in any match,” Sports Es reported.
