Manchester City midfielder Rodri has complained directly to FIFA about the level of officiating in Spain's World Cup semi-final victory over France, specifically highlighting the failure to protect teenage star Lamine Yamal from repeated fouls.
Spain reach final with 2-0 win
Spain booked their place in Sunday's World Cup final with an impressive 2-0 win over tournament favourites France in Dallas. Most pundits had tipped the 2018 winners and 2022 runners-up to advance, but Spain, the reigning European champions, produced a dominant display.
Yamal won a penalty midway through the first half after being hacked down by Lucas Digna, and striker Mikel Oyarzabal made no mistake from the spot. France rarely threatened to equalise, and Pedro Porro scored Spain's second with half an hour remaining.
Rodri criticises referee Ivan Barton
Rodri said he was 'very proud' of Spain's 'impressive' performance but criticised the refereeing by Ivan Barton and his team. 'It's obvious. We've been dealing with this situation for three games now, there have been too many fouls,' Rodri said. 'We're talking about 10 or 15 fouls where the kid [Lamine Yamal] goes to the ground. If the referees do not call them, then the defence will keep doing the same thing. The permissiveness is clear and was especially obvious today. But he still played a great match.'
The standard of officiating has been regularly criticised during the World Cup. Rodri added: 'Nullifying the opponent was part of what we wanted to achieve and then to take the game to our style of play. It was impressive. We all needed each other. I had a lot of help in the midfield to control such a physical and aggressive team on second balls – I would say it was a very complete match.'
Vieira admits France were outplayed
France World Cup winner Patrick Vieira acknowledged the better side won. 'It was a big expectation of France to win the World Cup,' he told ITV. 'We are all really disappointed by the result but mostly by the performance because we needed our top players to perform today and they didn't do it. It wasn't one or two that were missing, all of them were missing. Collectively we were really bad. Spain dominated the game in every single aspect. Spain were the better team. I don't think France turned up at all.'
Luis de la Fuente's Spain will face defending champions Argentina or England in the World Cup final in New York on Sunday night.
