Graeme Souness and Roy Keane had a heated discussion on ITV after Argentina were given a dubious penalty against Saudi Arabia.
The spot-kick was awarded in the opening ten minutes of the clash after the grappling of an Argentine player in the area. Whilst it was a contentious decision by both VAR and the referee to award the penalty, a new FIFA directive means that it was the right decision by the letter of the law.
Nevertheless, Souness and Keane still disagreed about whether or not it should've been given.
READ MORE: Argentina make Cristian Romero World Cup decision vs Saudi Arabia after Tottenham injury absence
Starting the debate at half-time, Keane said: "I don’t think it’s been great. Argentina had a good start but to me looked like they were going through the motions, I don’t think it was a penalty, Saudi Arabia are doing well to be fair to them, they’re hanging in there, playing a high line - obviously a dangerous game to play. They got lucky once or twice, they need to do better on set-pieces but overall disappointed with Argentina, need to see more, going through the motions a bit."
Souness followed up by saying: "He’s not watching the ball, Laura. He doesn’t know where the ball is, he’s only interested in the Argentinian player, he doesn’t know when it’s been kicked, he’s not watching and that is a penalty."
The pair's disagreement then became a heated discussion, with Keane replying: "No, no, no. All this will do is encourage diving. He’s dragging him down, he’s dragging him down!"
Souness then criticised Keane for not listening to the directives: "Roy, you’re not listening to what Laura is saying. The directive from referees." Keane then replied: "I heard exactly what she said. It’s going to encourage diving."
Liverpool legend Souness then explained that it's not about opinion but is about fact: "This is not about opinion, that’s a fact, the guy wasn’t looking at the ball." Keane then added: "Well I’m here to give my opinion. That’s not a penalty."
The two then continued to interrupt each other before former Chelsea star Joe Cole weighed in on the debate by stating that he thought it was a penalty.
Lionel Messi stepped up to score for the first time at the competition. The goal means he's become only the fourth player in history to score at four World Cup tournaments.
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