Anthony Taylor was ‘BARRED from taking charge of Argentina’s World Cup final win over France’ due to bizarre policy
pLast year#8217;s Qatar final saw Lionel Messi triumph over then-PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20795673/argentina-france-messi-wins-world-cup-mbappe/in a thrilling penalty shootout./a/p
figure id=attachment_23846144 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/referee-anthony-taylor-premier-league-840857183.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23846144 width=960 height=640 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditGetty/figcredit/figureAnthony Taylor was not in the running to officiate the World Cup final[/caption]
pInstead, a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20770276/world-cup-final-michael-oliver-england-szymon-marciniak/Szymon Marciniak of Poland/a was chosen to take charge of the showpiece event./p
pAnd the a aria-label=Times (opens in a new tab) href=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/world-cup-final-ill-feeling-over-falkland-islands-ended-anthony-taylor-s-refereeing-hopes-9bdk5dpf7 target=_blank rel=noreferrer noopenerTimes/a claims Fifa made its decision to avoid any conflict between an English referee and Argentina due to issues regarding the Falkland Islands./p
pAs a result, Taylor was never in the running to be selected./p
pFifa maintains a policy of neutrality in matches, with an Argentine ref also unable to officiate games involving England./p
pThere are no suggestions a referee could be influenced in their decision making./p
pBut Fifa#8217;s policy comes so there#8217;s no chance of a situation arising regarding claims of bias./p
pAnimosity around the Falklands War was displayed following a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20756060/argentina-x-rated-song-english-falklands-world-cup/Argentina’s semi-final win over Croatia./a/p
pPlayers were heard singing a chant popular with their fans called Muchachos #8211; which references the Falklands War and aims insults at England and Brazil./p
p class=has-text-align-centerstronga href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/betting/20812234/free-bets/ target=_blank aria-label=FREE BETS - BEST BETTING OFFERS AND BONUSES NEW CUSTOMERS (opens in a new tab) rel=noreferrer noopenerFREE BETS #8211; BEST BETTING OFFERS AND BONUSES NEW CUSTOMERS/a/strong/p
pNicolas Otamendi was filmed shirtless as Argentina players sung #8220;Ingleses putos de Malvinas no me olvido#8221;, which has a rough translation of #8220;f***ing English in the Falklands, I don#8217;t forget#8221;./p
pThe full chant goes: #8220;Brazilian, what happened, the five-time champions screwed up./p
p#8220;Messi went to Rio and he left with the cup [in reference to their Copa America win on Brazilian soil]. /p
p#8220;We are the Argentine band and we will always cheer them on, because we have the dream of being the world champion./p
p#8220;I#8217;m like that, I am Argentinian, f***ing English in the Falklands, I don#8217;t forget. I#8217;m like that, I encourage you, I follow Argentina everywhere.#8221;/p
pTaylor did eventually get a chance to referee a major final as Roma faced Sevilla in last season#8217;s a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/22539762/sevilla-roma-europa-league-final-match-report-result/Europa League showpiece/a in Budapest./p
pThe Spanish side won and Roma#8217;s Jose Mourinho raged over some of his decisions./p
pThe Portuguese manager was so fuming with Taylor#8217;s officiating that he a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/22540905/jose-mourinho-fumes-disgrace-taylor-roma-europa-league-final/waited for him in the stadium car park/a before unleashing an a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/22560643/jose-mourinho-charged-uefa-anthony-taylor/X-rated rant. /a/p
pTaylor was then confronted and a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/22551977/anthony-taylor-roma-fans-airport-police-europa-league/abused by angry Roma fans at the airport/a in shocking scenes./p