Some former football greats slammed the penalty decision that earned England a place in the European Championships final – but Raheem Sterling, the man at the centre of the Wembley drama, claimed it was a fair call.
England captain Harry Kane tucked home the rebound after his 104th penalty was saved by Kasper Schmeichel to give England a 2-1 win in the Euro 2020 semifinal at Wembley on Wednesday (Thursday NZ time)
Ex-England right back Gary Neville and former England winger Chris Waddle – both working as a broadcasting pundits – reckoned the penalty call was dubious and former German international Didi Hamann claimed on Twitter it was “a blatant dive” and “a disgraceful decision”.
Schmeichel’s father Peter, Denmark’s European Championship winning keeper in 1992, said on BeIn Sports that the match officials “made a really big mistake on the penalty.
“This will be debated for a long, long time.
But Sterling – who went down in the box after a brush with Joakim Maehle – was adamant.
“I went into the box and he stabbed his right leg out,” Sterling, rated as England’s man of the match, told ITV.
” As long as it goes into the back of the net, that’s all that matters.”
England manager Gareth Southgate said he had not seen a replay of the penalty.
“I don’t how the incident looked. There is VAR so I assume they checked it and stuck with the referee’s decision.”
