England and Newcastle United legend, Alan Shearer, has waded into the controversy surrounding a penalty awarded to Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in their 3-2 victory over Ghana at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Reacting to a Twitter question posed by BBC Match of the Day if anyone disagreed with the penalty decision, Alan Sherer responded and said ‘No!”
On Thursday, November 24, Ronaldo set a new record as the first male footballer to score in five FIFA World Cups but his historic feat has been overshadowed by what some have described as a contentious penalty decision.
Ronaldo was awarded a penalty after Black Stars defender Mohammed Salisu challenged him in the Ghana box 65 minutes into the game.
Referee Ismail Elfath pointed to the penalty spot, and no amount of protestation from the Ghanaian players and officials for him to review his decision on the VAR screen yielded results.
Ronaldo stepped up and converted the spot kick to give Portugal a 1-0 lead.
Ghana rallied back in a spirited fashion, pulling parity 8 minutes after the Ronaldo penalty to leave the score 1-1.
With confidence high, the Black Stars opened up, hoping to upset the former European champions but were sucker-punched with two quick-fire goals in the 78th and 80th minutes by Joao Felix and Rafael Leao.
Ghana fought back again and reduced the deficit after substitute Osman Bukari scored in the 89th minute of the game but the Stars failed to get the needed equalizer despite Inaki Williams’ last chance in the dying stages of extra time.
While Portugal were better in long spells, the penalty decision has become the major talking point of the game.
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Source: www.ghanaweb.com
