France star Theo Hernandez avoided red card after giving away penalty due to strange rule

France star Theo Hernandez avoided a yellow card against England because of a strange refereeing rule.

Hernandez clumsily barged into the back of Mason Mount as he tried to latch onto a long pass from Jude Bellingham.

Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio did not award the foul to begin with and had to watch the incident back on the VAR screen before electing to point to the spot.

He also showed Hernandez a yellow card for the offence but Jude Bellingham was mystified as to how it wasn't red card given the AC Milan defender was the last man.

However, former Premier League referee Peter Walton offered an explanation on ITV's coverage. He claimed that because Mount did not touch the ball when apprehended, it wasn't denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Image: Alamy

Speaking on ITV, he said: "It would be a fair question if he denied a goalscoring opportunity, unfortunately for England the player does not have possession of the ball, therefore it wouldn't be the denial of a goalscoring opportunity."

Having already smashed one past club colleague Hugo Lloris, Harry Kane had the chance to level matters from 12 yards for the second time in the game and also become England's record goalscorer.

However, he ballooned his effort over the bar and after failing to reply to Olivier Giroud's header, England were eliminated at the quarter-final stage.

Sampaio came in for heavy criticism for his performance and had his Wikipedia page edited by England fans after the defeat.

Image: Alamy

Gareth Southgate refused to comment on the official's display but Harry Maguire didn't pull any punches and questioned some of the key decisions.

"I think the referee’s decision-making throughout the game was really poor," he told beIN Sports.

"We always stand here and as players we get criticised – so it would be nice to see if he comes out and says whether he’s had a good game or not.

"Because there were so many decisions in that first half where they made five, six early fouls.

"I think H [Harry Kane] was outside the box but it was a clear foul, he didn’t in the second half, Bukayo’s is a clear foul leading up to their first goal.

"Big moments, big decisions, you expect to get some right but unfortunately tonight we didn’t get any."