The Malta Football Federation (Malta FA) has called the second penalty against the national team in the Euro 2024 qualifying match with Ukraine non-existent. In a report on the match, which ended in a narrow victory for the Blue and Yellows, the organisation's official website criticised the decision of French referee Ruddy Buquet.

The episode occurred in the 69th minute of the game, when Ukrainian captain Andriy Yarmolenko fell in someone else's penalty area after being tripped by defender Jean Borg. The Maltese consider it strange not only the fact that an 11-metre penalty was awarded, which was Ukraine's second in the game, but also that the referees did not change their decision after watching the video replay.

"It's not the first time in the international arena that the Maltese national team has fallen victim to controversial refereeing decisions. Today Ukraine managed to beat Malta only on penalties. It was the second penalty awarded in the second half for non-existent contact between Jean Borg and Yarmolenko. Borg allegedly knocked Yarmolenko down - a very controversial decision by the experienced Frenchman, which, however, was unexpectedly confirmed by routine VAR checks," the article says.

It should be noted that in the 50th minute, a penalty was awarded to Malta for a handball by Steve Borg, but Andriy Yarmolenko failed to convert it, hitting the crossbar. After three matches played in Group C of the Euro 2024 qualifiers, the Ukrainians have six points and are in second place.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Ukraine's head coach Serhiy Rebrov expressed outrage that the fans expected an easy victory over Malta.

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