Despite the slap to France, the World Cup final referee admits a mistake

 World Cup final referee Shimon Marciniak admitted his performance on December 18 between Argentina and France was not ideal, and identified one mistake he is known to have made during the match.

After the final, Lionel Messi and his Argentina team mates got their hands on a third World Cup in its history, and a first for Messi, at the end of a captivating contest at Doha's Lusail Stadium, and brought the curtain down on the World Cup, but only after the most exciting final of all time.

Argentina eventually claimed the trophy via penalties after a 3-3 draw that included two goals from Messi, a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe and chances and incidents that impressed football fans all over the world. Polish referee Shimon Marciniak, a former player in both Poland and Germany, received wide praise in the immediate aftermath of his performance, but in the following days he was heavily criticized by French sports newspaper L'Equipe.

This criticism then spread across France, and a petition was filed on a French website calling for a replay of the final due to what were perceived as errors by Marsignac in the build-up to both of Argentina's first two goals. In addition, it was pointed out afterwards that Messi's second goal in extra time was disallowed because several Argentine substitutes entered the field of play to celebrate before the ball crossed the line.

Speaking in Poland last week, Marciniak dismissed many of the French criticisms, but admitted he made a mistake that cost the French at one point. "Of course, there were mistakes in the final," Marciniak, 41, told Sport BL.

He explained that among these mistakes was that he stopped the "French counterattack after a bad intervention by Argentine Marcos Acuna," adding, "I was afraid that the wrong player wanted to relax, and I read that incorrectly because nothing happened, and you can give an advantage and then return with a card." He added that it is difficult in such matters, but added, "The important thing is that there were no major mistakes."

However, the Acuna incident was not a bad one for the French, and Marciniak was happy to respond to their complaints, at one point even showing a picture of the French to suggest that they too had their substitutes enter the field of play while building up an attack. He said, "The French did not mention this picture, as you can see how there were 7 Frenchmen on the field when Mbappe scored a goal."