Collina defends the refereeing of Egypt and Argentina.

FIFA's head of referees, Pierluigi Collina, defended the performance of the officiating crew in the match between Argentina and Egypt in the Round of 16 of the World Cup, asserting that referees operate with complete independence and that allegations of influence on their decisions are unfounded.

Collina stated in remarks published by the FIFA website on Thursday that criticizing refereeing decisions is part of football, but he emphasized that questioning the integrity of referees is unacceptable, warning that such accusations could put referees and their families at risk.

He explained that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) correctly intervened to disallow Mustafa Abdel Raouf "Zico's" goal after a foul was detected at the start of the attack, and he considered that the clash between Mohamed Salah and Julián Álvarez before Argentina's winning goal did not constitute a foul warranting a penalty kick.

Collina's statements came after protests from the Egyptian Football Association and coach Hossam Hassan regarding several officiating decisions following Egypt's 3-2 loss to Argentina and their exit from the tournament.