England fans have brutally edited World Cup referee's Wikipedia after France defeat
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England fans reacted to the 2-1 World Cup quarter-final defeat to France by editing the Wikipedia page of much-maligned referee Wilton Sampaio.
Sampaio awarded England two penalties - one of which was converted by Harry Kane and the other being blazed over by the skipper - but the Brazilian official has been widely criticised for his performance.
In the first half he failed to award a free-kick for what looked like a clear foul from Dayot Upamecano on Bukayo Saka in the build-up to France's opener from Aurelien Tchouameni.
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Another challenge from Upamecano on Kane went unpunished as VAR deemed the challenge to have occurred just outside the area and so no penalty was awarded.
The second penalty was not given at first despite Theo Hernandez bundling over Mason Mount and it took a VAR review for him to point to the spot.
Former England defender Gary Neville said Sampaio was "an absolute joke of a referee" and had a "nightmare game".
And angry England supporters decided to troll him by changing his Wikipedia page, where for one moment it said he was a "French fan and Brazilian football referee" who was "under investigation" for "falsely not awarding a penalty to England after Harry Kane was assaulted."
His page, which can be edited by members of the public, also claimed he was offered a lap dance by Kylian Mbappe.
The top of his page read: "Wilton Pereira Sampaio (born 28 December 1981) in Teresina de Goias, Goias, Brazil) is a French fan and Brazilian football referee.
"He was recently offered a lap dance by [Kylian] Mbappe for favourable decisions to France."
The page has reverted back to normal now but the CONMEBOL ref was also branded "a Brazilian cheat” who had “lost his guide dog”.
Manager Gareth Southgate refused to criticise the referee but Harry Maguire did not hold back and described his display as "really poor".
He told ITV: "I can’t really explain his performance. The amount of decisions they got wrong was actually incredible. Really poor.”
Maguire continued to pull no punches when asked about Sampaio in a post-match interview with beIN Sports and encouraged the ref to discuss his performance.
Maguire added: "I think the referee’s decision-making throughout the game was really poor.
"We always stand here and as players we get criticised – so it would be nice to see if he comes out and says whether he’s had a good game or not.
"Because there were so many decisions in that first half where they made five, six early fouls.
"I think H [Harry Kane] was outside the box but it was a clear foul, he didn’t in the second half, Bukayo’s is a clear foul leading up to their first goal.
"Big moments, big decisions, you expect to get some right but unfortunately tonight we didn’t get any."
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: England, France, Football World Cup
