GARY NEVILLE has slammed referee Wilton Sampaio for a second time as he called his performance in England’s defeat to France “awful”.
The Brazilian has come under fire after the Three Lions crashed out of the World Cup following a 2-1 defeat to the holders in the quarter-finals.
Wilton Sampaio made a number of questionable decisions in England vs France
Harry Kane equalised for Gareth Southgate’s side but Olivier Giroud scored the winner after Aurelien Tchouameni had earlier put France in the lead.
But England were left aggrieved with Sampaio’s role in the opener after he failed to award a free-kick to Bukayo Saka when he looked to have been fouled by Dayot Upamecano.
He then decided against awarding England a penalty on Kane soon after, one of many questionable decisions he made in the first-half.
England did get two penalties after the break – one of which had to go to VAR – but Neville was still aggrieved.
When speaking to ITV after the game, he branded him a “absolute joke of a referee“.
And Neville has launched another attack on Sampaio.
He told Sky Sports: “The referee I think could have been better, I thought he was awful.
“That’s not me blaming the referee for England going out, I just thought he was awful.
“I don’t say that much anymore. I used to when I was playing, I used to think it quite a bit, but I’ve been on sky for 10/11 years and very rarely do I say the referee was a disgrace – I thought he had a shocker.
“We were sat in the corner where the penalty was with Kane in the first half, there were three or four fouls in that area of the pitch first half and I thought, ‘how’s that not been given a foul?’ It was weird.”
