'Morocco 2-1 France the real score had referee and VAR not cheated' - Fans back Atlas Lions for lodging complaint

08:09 GMT 16/12/2022

Sofiane Boufal yellow card Morocco France World Cup 2022

Fans of the North Africans believe they deserved to get two penalties against Les Bleus in the last four fixture at Al Bayt Stadium

Morocco have received backing from fans after the Moroccan Football Federation filed a complaint to the world governing body Fifa about refereeing during their World Cup semi-final defeat against France.

The Atlas Lions lost the game 2-0 courtesy of goals from Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani but they believe they should have been awarded two penalties. The first incident in their petition was when Sofiane Boufal was brought down in the box in the first half, but referee Cesar Ramos, instead, booked the winger for a foul.

The second incident was when the referee refused to act after Selim Amallah was brought down in the box in the second half. Morocco's decision to file a complaint has sparked a lot of debate on social media and below is what the fans had to say.

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Referee and VAR denied Morocco

The referees and the VAR team really did conspire to deny Morocco. Shameful! - Vincent Brian
The real score was 2-1 for a Morocco win if the referee and VAR had not cheated. - Marad10na
Referees are the main channels whereby matches are fixed. It was clear as daylight robbery and VAR too saw it... this is the dark part of football and life. - Dee1
The VAR should have intervened. That is the weird part. - Moby Zed Blinours
A European referee [by origin] judging a game between a European country and an African country. Rigged. - Carraale
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Referee was shocking

There's no scam but the referee was shocking in that Morocco versus France game. Morocco should have been awarded more free kicks but he didn't. - Mr unknown
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Fifa wanted Argentina vs France final

We all know it's rigged. The referee was just a part of the scam. Fifa wanted Argentina versus France in the final. - Ibn Abdul Hamid
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Referring in the World Cup abysmal

Refereeing throughout the World Cup tournament has been abysmal, with nobody, in particular, being particularly hard done by, as a result, just very poor referees, full stop! - Chris Bolam
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Morocco deserved a penalty vs France

Why was that not a penalty? What an officiating? The commentator even mentioned his surprise at several decisions the referee took against Morocco early in the match. In particular, the instance soon after France's first goal where Theo Hernandez tripped Sofyane Boufal in the French penalty area.
The referee booked Boufal, instead, and awarded France a free kick. I was bemused. I expected the VAR to intervene, but once the replay was shown once, with the commentator expressing his bemusement as well, it wasn't repeated again 🤣😭 That incident was supposed to be a penalty for Morocco, but the "South American" referee denied them. And you know what would've been the outcome of the match if Morocco had been given that opportunity to equalise. - Dannie Trump
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Morocco should have been penalised

🤣🤣🤣😂, You want to win the World Cup tournament with controversial penalties 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I wonder how Morocco themselves survived that match without seeing a red card! - Summation
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Referee was superb

The referee was fair, not saying he was good, or bad, but called a fair match. Missed calls on both sides. Morocco should stop the noise and get on with it. And maybe try scoring a goal. - JimmyJamz
The referee was superb, nothing at all... Morocco tried, they should now focus on winning third place, that's good for now...Then maybe Afcon, and then in 2026, they come back stronger. - Fulani Herdsman
I agree 100% [the referee was superb]! Morocco will be seen as the team that won the hearts of millions, myself being one of them. Now they focus on third place and work to be as good or better in 2026. - Chuck Biskits
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Morocco should blame themselves

Morocco joining all the others who have exited and complained the same. You lost to the better team. You played a defensive style all tournament and couldn’t attack when needed. Should focus on getting third or it will be more heartbreak. - tropicalpibe
They [Morocco] should blame themselves for not being able to put the ball into the net, as they got so many chances! France were lucky but I don't see any robbery, the so-called penalty wasn't blatant. - Pat Bat
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Morocco were physical with Mbappe

Morocco definitely played a much more physical game with continuous hard tackles against Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, and Dembele. Most of the time Referee simply overlooked them, and never showed any yellow card.
When Mbappe was clearly fouled near Morocco's Penalty box and Mbappe had to leave the field for a few minutes for treatment. I have never seen Mbappe faking, he is a tough kid. The strange thing is no foul after that, forget about any card. - Syamal Sengupta
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France beat Morocco fairly

It’s very hard to decide whether it was a penalty or not on many occasions in so hard battles on the pitch!! But it’s obvious that France was better than Morocco and they won fairly, Credit to the Atlas Lions for their great performance throughout the tournament. - Andre Magee
Morocco now complaining about the referee and VAR what about their quarter-finals clash against Portugal they didn't complain. what goes around comes around, the airport was north have a good voyage. - John Oliveira