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The German press is furious following their side's 2-1 defeat to England in the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 final.
The Lionesses became the first English national side to win a major trophy in 56 years following their dramatic victory in front of a sold-out Wembley Stadium.
The feisty Euro clash between the two old rivals saw, unsurprisingly, strong challenges and plenty of fouls occur throughout the game. Chloe Kelly's extra-time winner was checked for offside, but ultimately the goal was allowed to stand.
What really irked the Germans, however, was the referee's decision not to award a penalty to Germany in the first-half when England captain Leah Williamson appeared to handle the ball inside the penalty area. With Williamson having little time to react and the offense being indeliberate, no spot-kick was given and the scorer remained 0-0 until Ella Toone's opener for England just after the hour mark.
The incident clearly triggered German publication BILD, who were reminded of the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley when England were awarded a goal that didn't appear to cross the line against the Germans. As per Give Me Sport, BILD wrote the following day:
“Wembley fraud again! Even with video evidence, we are being scammed. This mustn’t be true! This simply cannot be true! 56 years after the wrongly given Wembley goal in the 1966 Wembley final, our women are again suffering a fraud in a final[Euro] against England.”
“This time despite video footage! The 1-2 after extra time has a nasty, rotten smell. You lost. But those who lose through fraud are in fact the winners."
The photos below describe Germany's outrage:
Germany manager furious at penalty not being given against England in the Euro final
Following a rare European Championship defeat for her side, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was extremely critical of the Ukrainian referee's decision not to award a penalty.
The manager clearly felt that the England skipper's handball should have resulted in a spot-kick, as she stated:
“Let’s differentiate between football and feelings and let’s start with the footballing things. In the first half the ball possession was a bit more on the English side.
“We managed to have some attacks, but what I’m thinking about now is there was a situation at 0-0 where there was a clear handball in the box and VAR looked at it and didn’t award the penalty.
“In such a big game, it’s difficult to cope with that. I’m asking, why didn’t the referee look at it? That would have given us more safety if we’d scored.”
A controversial decision always takes away from the luster of a great win. But English players were nevertheless jubilant following their Euro cup triumph over Germany.
