Lionel Messi World Cup final goal ‘shouldn’t have stood’ according to FIFA rules | Football | Sport
Lionel Messi stole the headlines after scoring twice in the World Cup final to help Argentina win the trophy after a dramatic penalty shootout victory over France, which finished 3-3 after extra-time. But according to FIFA rules, the goal should not have been allowed to stand – prompting outrage in France after they were denied a historic comeback.
Messi thought he had secured the elusive trophy for the Albiceleste when he prodded home from close range despite Jules Kounde’s best efforts to make it 3-2 in extra time. Kylian Mbappe then sealed his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 117th minute to take it to penalties.
However, it has since emerged that the 35-year-old’s strike should have been chalked off – an argument put forward by French newspaper L’Equipe.
And according to FIFA’s Laws of the Game, the French may have a point in terms of the legality of the goal, casting a shadow over Argentina’s emphatic triumph.
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On the FIFA website, Law 3 states: “If, after a goal is scored, the referee realises, before play restarts, that there was an extra person on the field of play when the goal was scored: the referee must disallow the goal if the extra person was an outside agent and he interfered with play or the extra person was a player, substitute, substituted player or team official is associated with the team that scored the goal.”
In this case, the substitutes were of the attacking team and had encroached onto the pitch from the sidelines, meaning the goal should technically have been chalked off by referee Simon Marciniak and the VAR officials working on the game.
The only significant exception is if the referee was not made aware of the incident and allowed the kick-off to be taken. After that point, the goal can no longer be disallowed.
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Given that there was no apparent stoppage of play to check the goal other than to review the goal-line technology after it crossed the line by a matter of inches, it remains to be seen whether it was Marciniak or the VAR officials at fault for failing to spot the two substitutes entering the pitch.
But it does appear that France have every right to feel aggrieved, although some would point out that the players on the bench had barely set foot on the pitch and were at least 50 yards away from the action – thus not interfering with play.
Despite France’s protests, Polish referee Marciniak was widely praised for his overall performance having awarded three penalties in the 120 minutes of action.
Several complaints have been made about the standard of refereeing during the tournament, with Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi forced to apologise after confronting FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Argentina are unlikely to have much sympathy for France given the circumstances after edging the thrilling final on penalties, with Gonzalo Montiel striking home the winning spot-kick after Emiliano Martinez had saved from Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni sent his effort wide of the post.
It is the third time the Latin American nation have been crowned world champions and first time since 1986, with captain Messi finally adding his most coveted trophy to his ever-expanding silverware collection.
