The Polish referee of the World Cup final was welcomed as a true triumphant upon his return to his homeland Argentina-France, Szymon Marciniak, gave a conference after the heavy criticism received by the French press, which gave him 2 in his report card. Among the disputed episodes, the penalty defined “generous” granted to the South Americans, the lack of yellow cards a Christian Romero and, above all, the Pulce goal scored while the Albiceleste bench had burst onto the pitch to cheer before the ball entered.
Marciniak on the pitch invasion of the Argentine bench on Messi’s goal
Maricniak argued about the “pitch invasion”: “How would this situation affect the game? And what was the impact of the players getting up and jumping onto the pitch? Here we are looking for a handhold at any cost and this is not a serious attitude. The truth is that there are serious newspapers and others that are looking for a scandal at any cost. Many French referees have written to me congratulating me on my refereeing“.

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Marciniak, the twist: “Does France have nothing to say about this image?”
Then, the twist. Marciniak shows his cell phone with a very precise image, always taken from smartphones: “The French did not mention the photo showing that there are seven players on the pitch when Kylian Mbappe he scored. Should I disallow that goal too? The same happened on the last occasion of the match, that of the save Emiliano Martinez up Randal Kolo Muani… Mbappé? A true sportsman. At the end of it all he came to hug me. It was a beautiful and unexpected gesture. He was very sorry: I told him: ‘You are an exceptional player, you already won a World Cup 4 years ago and you will see that you will win others’“.

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“Fatal tears”: the reactions of the French press