Virgil van Dijk destroys standard of English referees in furious post-match interview after disallowed goal vs France

Virgil van Dijk destroyed the standard of English referees after the Netherlands had a goal controversially disallowed against France.

The Red Bull Arena in Leipzig played host to the first 0-0 of Euro tournament as two of the giant nations had a stalemate in their second game in Group D.

But the Dutch did have the ball in the net in the second half when Xavi Simons thought he had put his side ahead in the 68th minute.

After Memphis Depay had an effort saved by Mike Maignan, the ball dropped to Simons who smashed home the rebound from just inside the box.

He wheeled away in celebration but the goal was chalked for offside.

It emerged that Denzel Dumfries was clearly in an offside position when the strike beat Maignan.

Yet even though Maignan did not dive, a lengthy VAR check decided he had interfered with play.

Premier League referees Anthony Taylor and Stuart Attwell were responsible for the call, with the latter on VAR.

And captain Van Dijk, who has been refereed by both in the Premier League wit Liverpool, didn't hold back.

"We scored a goal that is a fair goal. He had no chance to get into that corner. But yeah, the English referee decided to disallow it."

This is Virgil van Dijk on 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 disallowed Dutch goal 🗣️#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/7c3BrCWvfX

— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) June 21, 2024

Taylor and Michael Oliver are the two referee representatives from the Premier League in the showpiece, with Attwell and David Coote working on VAR.

Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman was left furious with the decision to rule out what would have been a winning goal.

"I think the position of Dumfries is offside, that’s true but he isn’t disturbing the goalkeeper and when that doesn’t happen, then it’s a legal goal," he said post-match, as per The Athletic.

“You need five minutes to check it because it’s so difficult? I don’t understand. He’s not disturbing the goalkeeper. I think the goal should have stood.”

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