‘Salisu played the ball’ – English referee Mike Dean reacts to Ronaldo’s penalty

English football referee, Mike Dean has added his voice to the discussion surrounding the penalty awarded to Portugal in their 2022 FIFA World cup game against the Black Stars of Ghana.

17 minutes after the start of the second half, American referee, Ismail Elfath awarded a penalty for Cristiano Ronaldo after a challenge by Mohammed Salisu in the 64th minute.

The referee was urged by the Ghanaian players to at least go and have a second look with the VAR but he stood on his ground and awarded the penalty which was calmly converted by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Reacting to this as a pundit on BEIN Sports, Mike Dean stated that the tackle from Mohammed Salisu on Cristiano Ronaldo was not a foul and the referee shouldn’t have awarded a penalty for the incident.

However, he added that the referee only took the decision in a split second and it was the duty of the VAR to invite the referee to go for a second look and the referee would have changed his stand if he had watched a replay of the incident.

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Watch Mike Dean’s analysis in the video below: