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Maradona calls England penalty win ‘monumental theft’, Twitter digs the irony
You don’t slander an England penalty shootout win and not face the consequences. This is what former Argentine legend Diego Maradona discovered this week.
After calling England’s comeback during a thrilling spot kick battle with Colombia, Maradona didn’t quite think the Three Lions deserved any praise.
His annoyance concerned the awarding of Harry Kane’s first-half penalty by referee Mark Geiger, after the English striker was bundled over by Carlos Sanchez. But Maradona didn’t quite agree with the decision.
“Today I saw a monumental robbery on the pitch… a fatal mistake for a whole country,” he said, according to Reuters.
“Here’s a gentleman who decides, a referee who, if you Google him, shouldn’t be given a match of this magnitude… Geiger, an American, what a coincidence.”
Yeah, and that’s insulting an American on Independence Day too, no less.
After the comments, England fans took to Twitter to scream at the former striker in fervent 280-characters.
“To be fair, nobody knows that genre of football theft better than Mr Maradona,” wrote Piers Morgan.
To be fair, nobody knows that genre of football theft better than Mr Maradona. https://t.co/V5lSCvU9gy
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 4, 2018
Diego Maradona has stated Colombia were victims of a “monumental theft” in their World Cup last-16 defeat to England. pic.twitter.com/m51AaOI1Fy
— bet365 (@bet365) July 4, 2018
Maradona: “England win a monumental theft” pic.twitter.com/KpKb5rFNdx
— Joshua Shepherd (@joshgshepherd) July 5, 2018
Even FIFA itself joined in.
“FIFA strongly rebukes the criticism of the performance of the match officials which it considers to have been a positive in a tough and highly emotional match. Furthermore, it also considers the additional comments and insinuations made as being entirely inappropriate and completely unfounded,” the organisation wrote in a statement.
“FIFA is extremely sorry to read such declarations from a player who has written the history of our game.”
Feature image: Wagner Fontoura via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY)
