Two of Europe’s best teams fought it out for the coveted trophy. Euro 2024 which gave many jubilations and disappointments culminated by toiling with the emotions of the fans. Spain eventually won the game 2-1, but things could have been different for them if not for a late goal by Mikel Oyarzabal. Before the first half ended in a deadlock Spain could have counted themselves unlucky as a clear scoring chance was wrongly disallowed. But the incident got the fans and experts frustrated when the VAR also refused to take any action, subsequently attracting heavy criticism from former France and Manchester United star Patrice Evra.

It was around the 34th minute that Spanish defender Aymeric Laporte did a commendable job entering England’s penalty area. But to his misfortune, he fell in front of the goal exactly where the ball had arrived having been marked and pressurized by Declan Rice. But as the VAR did not consider it offensive enough, Evra, during the half-time show on Sony, opined that it was a ‘clear penalty’ and the decision to not award it was ‘unbelievable’.

Meanwhile, Rice appeared to be persistent in taking the Al Nassr player down even after Laporte went down with a lighter contact. However, the Arsenal midfielder continued by wrapping his two hands around Laporte triggering Evra for such a response.

Referee and VAR’s decisions have been under constant scrutiny by the soccer fraternity around the world. In the quarterfinals, it was Spain who were deemed lucky by the fans after a bullet from Jamal Musiala hit Marc Cucrella’s hand but Germany wasn’t awarded a spot kick. However, experts then claimed that the decision by both officials was reasonable. Still, Spain turned out to be victorious on both occasions.

Spain made an astonishing comeback regardless of the unawarded penalty

A penalty denied could have proved very expensive especially playing against a formidable setup like England. Keeping the disappointment behind, Spain had come determined in the second half and immediately went ahead in the 47th minute. A clinical play in the midfield from Dani Carvajal and Lamine Yamal resulted in a pass to Nico Williams who scored the opening goal.

But it was a moment of brilliance from Cole Palmer, who took a shot from outside the box and equalized for the Three Lions in the 73rd minute. The Spanish supporters would have been rueing François Letexier and VAR Jérôme Brisard’s call then, but Oyarzabal’s goal in the 86th minute meant that the potential blunder no longer mattered. Nevertheless, despite bringing considerable changes and technology into the competition, UEFA was unable to escape the criticism. The European body is expected to review the complexities regularly and could arrive with clearer guidelines in the future.