‘That’s awful’ – Everton star robbed of European Championships qualification after late penalty incident
Vitaliy Mykolenko’s Ukraine side drew 0-0 with Italy last night, but a late penalty incident has sparked a furious debate.
Ukraine faced Italy in what was the final European Championships qualifier in Group C, which is also England’s group, and both teams were locked on 14 points before the game in Germany.
Mykolenko’s side needed to win to gain progress to the competition that takes place next summer, but a goalless draw saw them finish third, missing out on goal difference.
However, in what was a tightly contested game, Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk went down in the box following Bryan Cristante’s lazy challenge in the final minutes of added time – but the referee was unmoved and there was also a lack of intervention from VAR.
The Ukrainian team on the pitch and on the touchline were enraged by the lack of a decision, but nothing came to fruition. It was such a big moment in the game and the group, as the reigning European champions qualified behind England and they place was secured based on their head-to-head record.
It came on the same night that England and Manchester United defender Harry Maguire escaped a penalty after a clumsy challenge against North Macedonia during the 1-1 draw.
However, fans were also in disbelief at the late incident, as one fan passionately wrote: ‘If you’re not going to use VAR to give this, it’s hard to see the point of having it at all. It doesn’t matter if Mudryk makes a lot of the contact, it’s clearly there, in the box, without the defender winning the ball.’
While another said: ‘That’s awful, but not worse than the Maguire non penalty either. What a mess.’
One fan disagreed and believed the Chelsea winger had dived: ‘I’d argue that it’s not a foul. You can have minor contact without it always being a foul. The slight brush here is not enough to send him flying like that.’
In terms of Mykolenko’s performance, he played the full 90 minutes and performed admirably against the likes of Juventus’ Federico Chiesa, as he managed six clearances, three interceptions, three tackles and wasn’t dribbled past during the game.
