Norway star calls out 'bitter' referee as FIFA rejects calls to rule out England goal
England came from behind to down Norway and make the last four of the World Cup but Jude Bellingham's equaliser has courted plenty of controversy
Norway's Andreas Schjelderup claimed that some of the refereeing decisions during their loss to England "were a bit bitter" as the underdogs were left to bemoan their World Cup exit.
The Norwegians came into the quarter-final as underdogs but took the lead when Schjelderup's cross end up firing in off the post to give his nation a shock advantage.
England were able to fight back with Jude Bellingham scoring twice, grabbing the winner in extra-time. His equaliser came late in the first-half, but Norway claimed that the ball had struck one of the cables that holds the camera above the pitch - with FIFA rules stating play should be stopped - but the organisation has rejected accusations there was any contact.
Erling Haaland was later pinned for a foul in the second-half, which meant that Torbjorn Heggem's strike was chalked off, and those decisions have left a sour taste.
Schjelderup said: "Unfortunately the margins were against us, the odds were against us. Some decisions by the referee were a bit bitter. If we lost fully it would have been a bit different."
Playmaeker Martin Odegaard, who was one of Norway's most impressive players, said they "didn't get much help from the referee. The margins went against us and we had a bit of bad luck."
When quizzed on Bellingham's equaliser and the lead-up to it he added: "I didn't see it myself. Margins were not in our favour today with some of the decisions. Maybe you need that in games like this."
Norway had stunned Brazil to make the last eight and manager Stale Solbakken confessed they rode their luck in that game, but didn't enjoy such luxuries against England.
"I feel sorry for the lads," he said. "This is top level sports at it's best or it's most gruesome. We were lucky against Brazil, today we were not so lucky. We had margins go on our favour against Brazil, but not today.
"Sometimes you're lucky. We were lucky against Brazil. Today we were not. The margins were not in our favour, but that's life."
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