Peter Schmeichel hits out at referee over England penalty against Denmark

Peter Schmeichel feels referee Danny Makkelie made a ‘really big mistake’ in awarding England a penalty against Denmark in the Euro 2020 semi-final on Wednesday night, saying defeat at Wembley is ‘hard to take’ as a result.

After the game finished level at 1-1 after 90 minutes, Raheem Sterling went down in the box in the first half of extra time, seemingly felled by Joakim Maehle.

The referee pointed to the spot and after his decision was checked by VAR it stood, with Danish protests falling on deaf ears.

Harry Kane’s penalty was saved by Kasper Schmeichel, but the England captain finished off the rebound to put the Three Lions ahead and, ultimately, into the final of Euro 2020 against Italy.

Schmeichel senior was left frustrated by the penalty decision, which did look very dodgy on replays, with Sterling seemingly heading to the ground before any contact was made.

‘He made a really big mistake on the penalty,’ Schmeichel told beIN Sports of Dutch referee Makkelie.

‘This will be debated for a long, long time. In a way it’s a hard one to take because it’s not a penalty.

‘I would have been much more relaxed and accepting if they’d scored in one of the many chances they created.

‘Unfortunately the referee in this instance made a big mistake, in my opinion.’

Mikkel Damsgaard had given Denmark the lead with a memorable free-kick half an hour into the match, but a Simon Kjaer own goal levelled things up just nine minutes later.

England had the better of the possession and chances over the game and will feel like they deserved to win, despite the questionable penalty, but Schmeichel feels his countrymen leave Euro 2020 with their heads held high after a fine run to the last four.

‘We are very proud of the Danish team, I think the Danish team has done fantastically well,’ he said.

‘We leave the tournament with honour and England go on to play Italy in the final, they’ve had a really good tournament.

‘It’s the first time today that they’ve played against really tough opposition and in the end they came good.’

England and Italy meet in the final at 8pm on Sunday at Wembley.

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