World Cup 2022: Marciniak responds to Equipe, who wrote about Argentina’s goal that shouldn’t have counted

The referee of the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France, Simon Marciniak, became a negative protagonist for the vanquished and especially for their press, like Equipe. The French publication gave the Polish referee a 2/10 rating and even got into the 3-2 phase of the “Albiceleste” as that shouldn’t have counted as Argentinian players entered the field during the win.

Marciniak returned home on Wednesday and was warmly welcomed at the airport. On Thursday morning he was at his home in Slupno, where the local administration had prepared an event with Marciniak, where he had breakfast with journalists, fans and town residents. During the event, Marciniak answered various questions from attendees, including the criticism he received.

“What the players say counts. The French thanked me after the game, they were happy with the referee. Kylian Mbappe, Hugo Lloris… Paulo Dybala came over after the game and thanked me like I’d taken the winning penalty. Lionel Messi also came and thanked me. He said it was a very difficult game“.

As for Equipe’s article, he responded to the France goal with a similar case: “When the French scored, there were seven substitutes on the pitch. It’s not too serious to look for things like that.”