“Ask Egypt.” Will Messi handball England despite VAR?

The English report recalled one of the most famous moments in World Cup history ahead of tomorrow’s semi-final between Argentina and England at the 2026 World Cup, teasingly asking if Lionel Messi could repeat what legend Diego Maradona did when he scored with his hand against England in 1986 in the presence of referee technology.

Links: British Sky Sports Network While Messi, playing for England for the first time in his international career, faces a new opportunity to follow in Maradona’s footsteps after coming up against the same opponent against whom the legend created his most famous football moments, scoring the ‘Hand of the Hand’ and ‘Goal of the Century’ in the 196th UEFA Champions League final.

But the report added a startling phrase that is mocking in nature, saying: “Manual recording may be difficult in light of the availability of video technology, but ask Egyptian fans and they might not rule it out.”

The comment comes in light of the huge refereeing controversy that surrounded Egypt’s World Cup final against Argentina, a game that saw widespread Egyptian protests against a series of high-profile decisions by French referee Francois Lettxer.

The Egyptian Football Association lodged a formal complaint with FIFA demanding that Letscher be banned from the rest of the tournament after his decisions sparked widespread controversy, notably disallowing an Egyptian goal and refusing to award a penalty to Mohamed Salah before Argentina’s third goal.
On a technical level, a Sky Sports report says Messi remains Argentina’s most important player after scoring eight goals in the tournament, sharing the top scorers with Kylian Mbappe. He also leads the list of players who create the most chances, take chances and passes, making England under Thomas Tuchel one of the toughest challenges of the tournament to stop.