By Chineze Ogugua
It was a scary night for both Portugal and Spain after both nations survived a scare from IR Iran and Morocco respectively in what was a stern test over the use of VAR.
Morocco opened the scoring in the 14th minute through Khalid Boutaib before Andres Iniesta equalized five minutes later.
Youssef En-Nesyri then scored what could have been a likely winner but substitute Iago Aspas spoilt the Moroccan party as he converted Dani Carvajal’s cross though the referee had initially disallowed the goal before VAR overturned the decision.
Simultaneously, Portugal opened scoring through Ricardo Quaresma before Cristiano Ronaldo failed to make it 2-0 after his penalty was well dealt with by Iran’s keeper.
However, the talk of the evening was the decision by VAR to award only a yellow card to Ronaldo after he flicked his arm at Morteza’s face.
The most shocking came in the 93rd minute after a long ball by Sardar hit Cedric’s arm who was attempting to head the ball.
However, VAR adjudged it to be a penalty overturning the referee’s decision not to award the penalty, from which the Iranians equalized
Portugal will likely face Uruguay or Croatia in the round of 16 while Spain are in line to face Russia or the second placed team in group D.
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