Mikel Obi: Super Eagles captain slams Turkish referee for not awarding penalty
Mikel Obi disagrees with the referee's decision not to award a penalty to Nigeria after Rojo handled the ball.
Super Eagles captain Mikel Obi has slammed Turkish referee Cüneyt Cakır for not awarding Nigeria a penalty in their last Group D game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup against Argentina on Tuesday, June 26.
Lionel Messi scored the first goal of the game but Victor Moses equalised from the penalty spot, the Argentine, scored what turned out to be the winner when Marcos Rojo blasted a shot past Francis Uzoho.
The Super Eagles, however, had a penalty claim just before the goal when goalscorer Rojo handled the ball in his own box but the referee chose not give another spot-kick in the game.
Speaking at a press conference after the narrow defeat to Argentina Mikel was of the opinion that the official got the decision wrong and it cost Nigeria as they exited the competition.
He said, ''I don't understand how that wasn't a penalty, for me, it was a clear handball, clear penalty.
“'If you watched the Portugal match, that wasn't even close to this, this was even worse, this was open. He had the ball and the ball hit his hand, maybe the referee gave the first penalty and didn't want to give the second one.
There were accusations on social media that the referee was reluctant to award another spot-kick after awarding the initial penalty that led to Nigeria’s equalizer.
Mikel was however of the opinion that the referee is free to award multiple penalties in a match.
He said, ''A penalty is a penalty, if you give the first one, you can still give a penalty, we have seen it again in the dressing room, it was a clear penalty, so there wasn't any way the referee couldn't give the penalty.
''He looked at the VAR and told me the ball hit the player's hand. ''
The result means that the Super Eagles crashed out of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, while Argentina joined Croatia to qualify from the group phase.
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