French newspaper L’Equipe gave World Cup referee Ilgiz Tantashev just their third 1/10 rating for an official in a decade after failing to clamp down on Paraguay’s ‘dark arts’ in their World Cup last-16 tie.
France secured a 1-0 win over Paraguay on Saturday with Kylian Mbappe’s penalty enough to send Didier Deschamps’ team through to a quarter-final against Morocco.
Paraguay had earned praise for their defensive resilience against France, who had scored three or more goals in their four previous matches at the tournament.
The South Americans, however, were branded a ‘disgrace’ and ’embarrassing’ by BBC pundits for attempting to provoke their opponents, repeatedly fouling, faking injury and trying to wind up Les Bleus with overly aggressive conduct.
After being awarded the decisive penalty, Paraguayan players had attempted to scuff up the spot before Mbappe’s kick.
Footage also showed clips of Dayot Upamecano being elbowed in the ribs, Jules Kounde being palmed in the face, while there was an attempt to get Michael Olise sent off with outrageous play-acting.
French newspapers have branded referee Ilgiz Tantashev a ‘complete disaster’ after he failed to tackle Paraguay’s dark arts during their World Cup last-16 tie
Kylian Mbappe expressed his frustration with the official, who failed to clamp down on Paraguay’s physical approach against France
Matias Galarza (left) is seen putting in a nasty challenge on Kylian Mbappe that went unpunished
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Paraguay remarkably ended the match without a single one of their players being booked by Uzbekistani referee Ilgiz Tantashev, while three France players were cautioned.
French newspaper Le Figaro declared Tantashev to be a ‘complete disaster’ and ‘out of his depth’ in managing the match.
L’Equipe noted that Tantashev had attempted to let play flow, citing it as an instruction and virtue of this World Cup, but was critical of his handling of Paraguayan players who attempted to slow down the game with fouls.
‘It’s a rare occurrence since L’Equipe’s special correspondents began rating referees,’ the newspaper wrote.
‘For his performance in France’s 1-0 victory over Paraguay on Saturday in Philadelphia, Ilgiz Tantashev received a score of 1 in our pages. Only two referees had received this rating until now.
‘It wasn’t simply a matter of letting the ball move freely, and this is where the management’s approach revealed its contradictions.
‘The Paraguayans’ simulations and time-wasting attempts also went unpunished by Ilgiz Tantashev, while Michael Olise received a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct, for a relatively minor offense, in stoppage time (90+7).
‘This was the third yellow card shown to the French, with none given to their opponents, and Bradley Barcola’s yellow in the 19th minute already seemed to have been awarded in a separate match.
Things eventually boiled over after the final whistle as the two sets of players scrapped near the centre circle
Uzbekistani referee Tantashev shows Michael Olise a yellow card. Paraguay escaped without receiving a single booking
It is believed Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill attempted to shake Mbappe’s hand but was ignored by the centre forward
In response he seemed to throw the ball at the Real Madrid star as tempers flared
‘While not scandalous given its visual impact on live television, it certainly contributed to a feeling of persecution among the French, a feeling that the initial penalty not awarded to Désiré Doué did little to alleviate.
‘But it is without misplaced chauvinism that L’Equipe’s special correspondents decided to award him a score of 1 out of 10 for his performance, which could certainly have been costly for Les Bleus but which, above all, did not really serve the game or protect the players.’
L’Equipe, who began rating refereeing displays since Euro 2016, stated that only Stephanie Frappart and Mathieu Vernice had previously had been given 1/10 ratings. Their ratings followed Ligue 1 matches in 2024.
Fans have since called for Tantashev not to be given another match at the World Cup following the referee’s performance.
Pundits in the BBC studio savaged the behaviour of the South Americans, with former England goalkeeper Joe Hart saying: ‘The Paraguayan players were an absolute disgrace tonight, if they were on my team I’d be dragging half of them off the pitch.
‘I would never want to win that way, I would never want to play football that way and the referee didn’t help in any of the circumstances.
‘The fact that not one Paraguayan today was booked inside the 90 minutes is absolutely astonishing.
‘But fair play to France, you can see what it means, sometimes you can play beautiful football but when you grind out a result as a team and do it like they did tonight, it’s superb.’
Mbappe and Co were able to keep their cool in the face of relentless provocation
Joe Hart, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Micah Richards piled into the Paraguay team
Some of the French players were clearly incensed by their treatment but managed to just about keep a lid on their emotions and avoid a red card that the Paraguayans were trying to provoke them into.
Things eventually boiled over after the final whistle as the two sets of players scrapped near the centre circle and Kylian Mbappe had a ball thrown at him by Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill.
It is believed Gill went to shake the France star’s hand but was ignored by the centre forward.
The Real Madrid man had appeared to taunt the opposition keeper after he tucked away the winning penalty roughly 20 minutes earlier, before the pair exchanged some heated words.
And following the ball-throwing incident, several players from both sets of teams were involved in a fracas near the centre circle.
After the game, Mbappe, who scored the winner from the spot, said: ‘If they tell us to f*** off, we will also tell them to f*** off.’
He went on to add: ‘If we have to get our hands dirty, we’ll do it. Apologies for the expression.
‘They thought we’d just turn up in tuxedos, make a few flashy moves and play a few passes.
Galarza feigns injury in an attempt to get Michael Olise sent off in the second half
France players were left frustrated with Paraguay’s violent approach to the last 16 game
‘We know how to play rough football too. And that’s exactly what we did today – we won. We were even better than them at that.’
Gill, meanwhile, admitted he briefly lost his temper when his handshake offer was snubbed.
‘I gave him my hand to congratulate him but he ignored me. Obviously I entered a heated moment, but that’s all I did. After that, I calmed down,’ he explained.
‘I just wanted to congratulate them. The truth is, they’ve had an excellent campaign as they’re the favorites to be world champions.’
Micah Richards agreed with Hart’s assessment and said he was disappointed because Paraguay’s win over Germany showed they did not need to resort to poor discipline to win.
He explained: ‘Paraguay are better than that though. Defensively they were so good, they were organised, they don’t need to get into these sort of antics, it was embarrassing to see and I think Joe was exactly right.
‘All those tactics and the s***housery that they showed, they didn’t need to do it. They tried to draw France into that and France nearly did but in the end they behaved in the right fashion.
‘It was too much tonight, there should have been at least five or six yellow cards in that game. Ultimately, France won’t care because they got through to the next round.’
France ultimately earned a 1-0 win with Mbappe scoring a penalty after Desire Doue was fouled
French newspapers expressed surprise the referee had failed to give the penalty in real time and had required VAR to instruct him to look at the incident again
Paraguay players could be seen attempting to scuff up the penalty spot behind the referee’s back before Mbappe could take his kick
Former Aston Villa and West Ham midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger was also in the studio and said he’d lost respect for Paraguay.
‘I had a lot of respect for Paraguay heading into the game and I’m glad my vocabulary in English is not that good because Joe has said ‘disgraceful’, I have various other words in German but not English’, he said.
‘I have little to no respect anymore for this Paraguay team, the way they behaved on the penalty incident.
‘If you’re from Paraguay you probably like that team and see them as warriors, if you’re a French supporter or neutral you can’t have any respect anymore for the way they behaved, this is not just disgraceful, this is even worse.
‘That Mbappe and everyone walked off the pitch uninjured to me is just a miracle and the referee gave the worst performance I’ve seen in this tournament.’
France have been the most impressive team of the World Cup so far but had to show a different side to their game on Saturday night.
The composure in the face of hostility and provocation should serve Deschamps’ men well with tough battles to come and next up they face Morocco in the quarter-finals.
