France player Randal Kolo Muani celebrates after scoring a goal in the Fifa World Cup final Theo Hernandez was seen pushing Randal Kolo Muani (pictured) back onto the pitch after France scored their second goal in the Fifa World Cup final in Doha over the weekend. Picture: Friedemann Vogel/EPA
Johannesburg - It appears a member of the French national team may have misinterpreted the rules during the team’s celebration of their equalising goal against Argentina in the World Cup final over the weekend.
Kylian Mbappe scored a remarkable hat-trick but could not drag France over the line as they succumbed 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out defeat at the hands of Lionel Messi's Argentina.
However, Mbappe's second goal, the one that took the match to extra-time, saw virtually the entire French bench swarm the pitch in celebration to join Mbappe at the corner flag. That's when Theo Hernandez could be seen pushing Randal Kolo Muani back onto the pitch amid the jubilation.
It appears Hernandez may have misinterpreted law eight of the Fifa Laws of the game, an incident similar to that of Bernardo Silva in Portugal's Round of 16 clash against Switzerland.
Football critics, why did they push Muani like that!?
— Akpraise (@AkpraiseMedia) December 19, 2022
pic.twitter.com/To9L2B8f4A
While Portuguese players celebrated with Goncalo Ramos off the pitch, fans noticed that he was the only on-field player standing on the pitch and believed Silva had pulled off another moment of genius.
However, Fifa moved to clarify the misinterpretation of the laws and deemed both Silva and Hernandez's actions unnecessary.
WATCH: Wild celebrations in Buenos Aires as Argentina touch down after World Cup victory
“Law eight states that all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their half of the field of play”, for play to resume. Many believe being off the pitch counts as not being in their own half.
"Therefore, the referee clearly cannot and would not (from a fairness perspective) allow the kick-off whilst players are off the field celebrating.”
So teams cannot take a kick-off while the opposition is off the pitch celebrating.
IOL Sport