An incredibly soft penalty has seen France level matters in their Group F fixture with Portugal.
Trailing 1-0 to a Cristiano Ronaldo spot-kick for Portugal and lying in second spot in the group, the under-par French were handed the chance to draw level through a controversial penalty of their own.
It came on the stroke of half-time when Kylian Mbappe went down as Nelson Semedo stepped into his path.
The referee immediately pointed to the spot and, after a quick VAR check, Karim Benzema fired home.
It was a decision that didn’t go down well with Jermaine Jenas on co-commentary duty for BBC Sport.
“That’s not a penalty,” he raged. “As a full-back that’s your job.
“You track your runner and you’re allowed to block his run.
Was this a penalty? 🤔
Watch and listen on the BBChttps://t.co/6c4ifcB76Q#PORFRA #Euro2020 #bbceuro2020 pic.twitter.com/IcZzbF6Mrw— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 23, 2021
“You can see why Portugal aren’t happy. There’s not enough in that for me.
“I’m not sure what Semedo is supposed to do there.”
BBC pundit Rio Ferdinand added at half-time: “This is a terrible decision. This is good defending from Semedo. He just puts his body between himself and Mbappe.
“As a defender you can ease people out of the way.
“There’s not enough contact for him to even go down.”
Never seen penalty calls as terrible as these 2 penalties in the Portugal vs France match.
Complete nonsense especially, the Mbappe penalty.#PORFRA #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/JHqM3KsvD5
— Rayo Kasali #TheAether (@RayoKasali) June 23, 2021
Seeing replays of that France penalty decision pic.twitter.com/sBgN5b1OoI
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) June 23, 2021
France getting a dodgy penalty but gives England a chance of facing Hungary pic.twitter.com/YvfFhHQ0Lh
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) June 23, 2021
That France penalty isn’t even a foul in basketball..
— ✈️ (@Arrizabalager) June 23, 2021