France Awarded Incredibly Controversial Penalty Decision Against Portugal In Euro 2020 Clash

An incredibly soft penalty has seen France level matters in their Group F fixture with Portugal.

Trailing 1-0 to a Cristiano Ronaldo spot-kick for Portugal and lying in second spot in the group, the under-par French were handed the chance to draw level through a controversial penalty of their own.

It came on the stroke of half-time when Kylian Mbappe went down as Nelson Semedo stepped into his path.

The referee immediately pointed to the spot and, after a quick VAR check, Karim Benzema fired home.

It was a decision that didn't go down well with Jermaine Jenas on co-commentary duty for BBC Sport.

"That's not a penalty," he raged. "As a full-back that's your job.

"You track your runner and you're allowed to block his run.

"You can see why Portugal aren't happy. There's not enough in that for me.

"I'm not sure what Semedo is supposed to do there."

BBC pundit Rio Ferdinand added at half-time: "This is a terrible decision. This is good defending from Semedo. He just puts his body between himself and Mbappe.

"As a defender you can ease people out of the way.

"There's not enough contact for him to even go down."