Harry Maguire has slammed referee Wilton Sampaio after the Brazilian oversaw England’s narrow defeat to France in their World Cup quarter-final clash earlier this weekend.
Maguire started the game alongside Luke Shaw and the pair enjoyed an impressive World Cup campaign but are now heading home following their heartbreaking defeat to France.
The aftermath of England’s exit from the World Cup has been dominated by criticism of Sampaio and speaking after the game, Maguire held no punches as he reflected on the referee’s performance.
“Really poor. Very poor,” Maguire told the BBC when quizzed on Sampaio’s performance, according to the Daily Mail. “From minute one, five, six fouls in the first 15 minutes, not one yellow card.
“For me it’s a foul for the first goal on Bukayo. I can’t really go into explain how bad his performance really was. I don’t want to go into too much cause I’ll end up getting fined, but it was really really poor.
“His decisions throughout the game, not just the big decisions. Even the big decisions were wrong, he never gave us anything, but throughout the game he was really poor.”
Maguire’s criticism of the referee came just hours after after Bruno Fernandes shared similar comments about the man in charge of Portugal’s quarter-final with Morocco.
SN’s verdict…
Despite the English frustration over Sampaio’s performance, the Three Lions were still awarded two penalties over 90 minutes and can have little complaints about their exit from the World Cup.
From Maguire’s perspective, he will feel like his stocks have risen over the course of this tournament and he’s in better stead to regain his place at United now.
Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane, Erik ten Hag’s first-choice pairing at the heart of the defence, are guaranteed to be involved in two more games before the tournament is over and that could offer Maguire the chance to impress when club football resumes later this month.
