`Totally unfair’… it wasn’t a penalty

Austrian referee Guenter Benko gave the penalty for a handball close to the goal line after linesman Igor Sramka of Slovakia raised his flag to signal an infringement. Zinedine Zidane struck home from the spot to seal a 2-1 French win.

“It was not a penalty. The referee must have had a lot of courage to give a penalty in that way,” a tearful Xavier said. “In football when you make a tackle where are you going to put your hand? You cannot play without hands. When the ball is going so fast you must have support.”

“Fair play for players, fair play for supporters and fair play for the referees also, is that not so?”

His team mates, obviously devastated at the manner of their exit, backed Xavier all the way. “You didn’t see many protests from the French side. Okay, maybe the ball hit his hand, but you can’t chop off your arms. In my opinion it was not deliberate,” defender Dimas said.

“We could lose because France are a fantastic team, but you see the logo fair play everywhere and then something like this happens — it spoils the game.”

Some of the Portuguese also cast doubt on France’s equaliser in the second half of normal time, saying goal creator Nicolas Anelka was offside before he crossed the ball for Thierry Henry, television footage shows they may have a point.

“It’s not only the penalty we’re angry about. Anelka was offside for the first goal but nobody is talking about that,” said defender Rui Jorge who saw the incident from the bench.

“This linesman was against us the whole game. There were three or four things which everyone saw but he didn’t give.

“Then having that final decision where the referee gave a corner kick but he (the linesman) managed to say from 30 metres it was a penalty — I think he won the game (for France) today,” Dimas said.

Portugal, who had been the epitome of discipline and organisation until the semi-final, completely lost their cool.

There were scenes of mayhem on the pitch as the players, coach and Portuguese officials accosted the referee.

The linesman had to be ushered away by the fourth official for his own protection and Portugal’s behaviour will likely earn them heavy UEFA sanctions.

A “very angry” Nuno Gomes was sent off after the final whistle for pushing the referee and flinging his shirt at him.

“I thought it was very unfair the way we lost,” he said. “I just gave my shirt to him and I said it was a gift for him to take home and remember our country.

“He didn’t want it so I threw it at him but he couldn’t catch it. I did it in a kind way. We are all very angry. It wasn’t possible to control that anger on the field.”

Mid-fielder Luis Figo added: “I am very disappointed. You would be angry if you have a chance to be in the final and you lose like this. We didn’t deserve it.

“I have never seen a situation like this before when one official signals a corner and another a penalty. It was really strange,” he said.

Dimas agreed the players lost their heads, but said they had a right to query the decision.

“Losing to a golden goal and it being a penalty in such a situation was very bad for football, particularly with all the protesting. But I think we had the right to protest,” he said.

“It’s normal to lose your cool. It’s not a good example but when you want to reach the final as badly as we did, and make history for our country, you tend to lose your mind.”

The players who have impressed and surprised many people with their entertaining football so far, were totally fed up as they left the stadium.

Asked if the public could look forward to more enjoyable Portuguese play, Figo said: “Right now I don’t feel like enjoying anything — certainly not football.

“When you want to get over a game like this you need another game. And now we’ll have to wait maybe a few months for the next game. It’s very bad at the moment,” Dimas said.

Figo, who took off his shirt at the referee’s decision because, “I didn’t feel like playing anymore,” summed up the disbelief in the Portuguese camp.

“We were prepared for everything — but not for this.”