#3 France’s helping hand
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Refereeing decisions have caused a furor in almost every major tournament. It is perhaps impossible to find a competition which was known for impeccable officiating. The Euro 2000 wasn’t any different either as referee Guenter Benko caused an uproar with a decision that still gets the Portuguese people’s blood pumping.
With just 3 minutes to go in extra-time, David Trezeguet’s shot was saved by Vitor Baia. The rebound fell to Sylvian Wiltord, who shot it as well and beat the goalie in the process. However, Abel Xavier was there to save the day as he cleared the ball off-the-line, but couldn’t manage to get his hand out of the way of the ball.
He used his hand to support himself while trying to clear the ball. The referee whistled for a corner at first, but his assistant interrupted and suggested him to award a penalty—and the former obliged, much to the fury of Portuguese.
The resulting penalty was scored by Zinedine Zidane and France eventually went on to win the title, further aggravating Portugal’s wounds.
