Argentina Legend, Diego Maradona has claimed that Colombia was Robbed in the World Cup round of 16 after England won via penalty shootout on Tuesday.
Harry Kane scored a second-half penalty to put England 1-0 ahead only for in-form Yerry Mina to score a stoppage-time equalizer for Colombia.
The match went to penalties after Extra-time and England’s Jordan Pickford proved to be a hero.
He saved Carlos Bacca’s penalty before Eric Dier scored to secure England’s place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
But the match ended in controversy with Colombia players insisting Referee Mark Geiger favoured England.
Earlier Radamel Falcao blamed Referee Mark Geiger for the defeat which he described as ‘painful’.
Now, Maradona has reacted to the controversy.
“I saw a monumental theft,” he told reporters.
“I apologise to all the Colombian people, but they must know the players are not to blame. It is the man who decides who the referee is who is to blame. A man like that (Geiger) should not be put in charge of a game of that magnitude. With all due respect, Pierluigi Collina, as the man who designates the referees, he is very bad. He must apologise to the Colombian people.”
“I told (FIFA president) Gianni Infantino that if I worked for FIFA, I would change everything. It has to be transparent. That’s why I didn’t go there. The referee will know a lot about baseball, but he has no idea about football. The Colombian players asked for VAR and he did not give it to them. Twice, the English threw themselves to the ground and he did not admonish them. This was theft. The penalty was not a foul. In fact, it was Kane’s fault. The referee was looking somewhere else and when he turned his head, Kane was on the floor. Kane used his arm to hook Sanchez and then threw himself down. I repeat, why didn’t the referee ask for the VAR? Colombia died standing. That’s why I applaud them.”
