Bradley Barcola was at the centre of a controversial decision during France's Nations League win against Belgium, with fans and Thierry Henry left furious. Zinedine Zidane's side eventually broke the resolve of the Belgians in Brussels thanks to an 88th-minute winner from Michael Olise, who had replaced Liverpool's Barcola 11 minutes earlier.
Incident in the box
However, the visitors should have arguably put the game to bed before then. Midway through the first half, Liverpool's Barcola used his searing pace to charge into the Belgian box with Nathan Ngoy struggling to stay with him. Before Barcola pulled the trigger, the defender threw out an arm, sending the winger to the floor, but no penalty was given, with the referee seemingly adjudging it to be a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge.
French fans were left furious, with many taking to social media to slam a 'shameful' decision. One said: "This refereeing is shameful. From several angles, you can clearly see that he's pushing him in the back. At no point does he play the ball; he's behind him and can't do anything." Another added: "That's a penalty every day; he pushes in the back without playing the ball." A third fumed: "1000 times penalty! Do the opposite, guys! A defender who gets shoved like that! He whistles right away."
Henry and Barcola react
Those fans received high-level support from France legend, former Belgium assistant coach and pundit Henry, who said: "I need someone to explain this shoulder-to-shoulder thing to me because sometimes we use football language to avoid saying what actually happened. Barcola is running with the ball. He's not challenging Ngoy for it. Ngoy comes from behind, puts his body into him and sends him to the floor. That is not shoulder-to-shoulder. Where is Barcola's shoulder in this agreement? That is a penalty for me."
Speaking after the game, Barcola said: "If I talk about it, I'm probably in trouble, but I have to say what I think. I felt the contact. I was inside the box and I was trying to continue the action. Maybe the referee saw it differently, but from where I was, it affected the play. What frustrates me most is that these decisions can change a game. You work for 90 minutes and sometimes one moment decides everything. I don't want to complain about referees in the Nations League or Premier League, I just want consistency. If there is contact and it affects the attacker, at least take another look. I'll probably get fined for saying this, but honestly, I thought it was a penalty."
Result and next fixture
Olise's brilliant solo goal ensured the incident wasn't crucial to the result, which made it two wins out of two for Zidane, who celebrated the goal wildly by charging down the touchline and booting a spare ball. Zidane will look to make it three wins out of three when his side play Italy on Friday.
