Mikel Blasts Turkish Referee : He Told Me The Ball Hit Rojo's Hand, A Penalty Is A Penalty

Published: June 27, 2018

John Obi Mikel was outraged by the decision of Turkish referee Cüneyt Cakır not to award a penalty to the Super Eagles after a handball by Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo in a World Cup match on Tuesday.

With fifteen minutes remaining, Nigeria were denied a clear penalty when Cüneyt ruled that Rojo had headed the ball on to his own arm after consulting VAR.

''I don't understand how that wasn't a penalty, for me it was a clear handball, clear penalty,'' Mikel said at the post-match press conference.

''If you watched the Portugal match, that wasn't even close to this, this was even worse, this was open. He had the ball and the ball hit his hand, maybe the referee gave the first penalty and didn't want to give the second one.

''A penalty is a penalty, if you give the first one, you can still give a penalty, we have seen it again in the dressing room, it was a clear penalty, so there wasn't any way the referee couldn't give the penalty.

''He looked at the VAR and told me the ball hit the player's hand. ''

To make matters worse, it was Rojo who netted the winner when he volleyed the ball into the back of the net in the 86th minute.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : thenff.com