Luis Medina Cantalejo - Russia V England 2007 (Euro Qualifier)

Russia V England 2007 (Euro Qualifier)

Cantalejo was chosen to officiate the 2008 UEFA European Championship qualifying match between England and Russia. In the first half of this match, which would have guaranteed England a place in the final competition, England's Wayne Rooney scored the opening goal from what appeared to be an offside position, but this went unnoticed by the officials. At the beginning of the second half, Rooney brought down Konstantin Zyryanov on the edge of the penalty box. Cantalejo ruled that the foul took place inside the penalty box, yet his assistant and the replay showed Rooney had fouled Zyryanov just outside the penalty box. Russian substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko successfully took the penalty to equalise, before three minutes later scoring another bringing the score to 2–1, the final score. Cantalejo was highly criticised and blamed for the loss by England supporters and England manager Steve McClaren.