Neville and Maguire call 'bad rank' referee for 'absolute nightmare' display as England lose to France

England defender Harry Maguire and ITV pundit Gary Neville punched the referee after the Three Lions lost to France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

Qatar's winter quest for World Cup glory is over after Saturday's quarter-final clash against defending champions France came to an end.

England captain Harry Kane's second-half kick canceled out Aurélien Tchouameni's superb opener, equaling Wayne Rooney's record 53 goals.

Olivier Giroud restored France's lead before Kane found the stands rather than the net with his second penalty of the night as an impressive display ended in an atrocious 2-1 loss.< /p>

Although referee Wilton Sampaio awarded England two penalties, numerous decisions throughout the night left England players and fans frustrated.

And Maguire, who produced a fantastic tournament in the heart of the England defence, criticized the 'really poor' referee for his decision-making.

"We're hurt in there, really disappointed. Look, we were definitely the best team in the game," Maguire told beIN Sports.

"I think anyone watching who is neutral will say that we dominated the game for long periods of time.

"Big decisions have gone against us, a lot of decisions have gone against us, I might say.

"We fought, we kept going, we kept pushing, we created chance after chance and they were clinical in two moments and that's why they're world champions, and I'll probably say that's that's why they are favorites for the tournament.

"I think the referee's decision-making throughout the game was really poor.

"We are still here and as players we get criticized - so it would be nice to see if he comes out and says if he 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 [Kane] was out of the box but it was a clear foul, he didn't do it in the second half, Bukayo's is a clear foul leading up to their first goal.

"Big moments, big decisions, you expect to have a few, but sadly tonight we didn't."

And former England defender Neville agreed with Maguire and went further, calling his performance a 'joke'.

"The lack of composure of the French defenders throughout the evening was surprising," Neville said on ITV Sport.

"We knew that was the weak point of the team, but we never realized how many bad decisions they would make in these types of areas.

"The referee, I thought he had an absolute nightmare, it was a referee joke, him.

"I'm not saying it was all down to the England loss, I think because people will say it's just excuses, it was just a bad referee, bad seeding."< /p>

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