World Cup 2018: Radamel Falcao accuses World Cup referee Mark Geiger of being biased towards England
USA official was surrounded by the South Americans when he correctly awarded the Three Lions a spot-kick
COLOMBIAN complainer Radamel Falcao has accused American referee Mark Geiger of being biased towards England despite letting his side off for some lousy behaviour.
The USA official was surrounded and harangued by the South Americans when he correctly awarded the Three Lions the penalty that Harry Kane crashed home.
It took three minutes of shouting and shoving between the Carlos Sanchez foul and the opening goal, such was Colombia's desperate moaning.
Wilmar Barrios also got away with a headbutt he aimed at the face of Jordan Henderson.
But the former Chelsea and Manchester United striker insists his homeward bound side bore the brunt of poor refereeing from the controversial Geiger.
Falcao said: "I found it peculiar that they put an American referee in this instance.
"To tell you the truth, the process leaves a lot of doubts.
"He only spoke English, some bias was certain.
“Through small decisions, he was pushing us towards our own goal, that was clear for me.
"The referee disturbed us a lot. In the 50-50 plays, he always made the calls in favour of England.
"This situation was undermining us. He didn't act with the same criteria for both teams.
"When in doubt he always went to the England side. It's shameful that this happens in the round of 16 of a World Cup."
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Gareth Southgate admitted his side were not perfect s the referee threatened to lose control of the fiercely contested and tetchy contest.
But Geiger did not cover himself in glory with a number of decisions and in the way he let Colombia away with some dark arts.
Earlier in the tournament the American was accused of asking for Cristiano Ronaldo’s shirt after Portugal beat Morocco.
Watford ace Nordin Amrabat claimed: “I don't know what [Geiger] is used to, but he was very impressed by Cristiano.
"I've been just told by Pepe that he asked if he could have his shirt.
“Come on, man. What are we talking about? ... We are at the World Cup, not a circus here.”
Why was Wilmar Barrios NOT sent off?
ENGLAND fans were incensed after the Colombian midfielder appeared to land a headbutt on the Liverpool man.
The pair were tussling as Keiran Trippier waited to take a first-half freekick in Moscow.
And Henderson hit the deck following the altercation, with Barrios throwing his head into the England man's chest and then chin.
After consulting his VAR - but not watching on the sideline screen himself - American ref Mark Geiger decided to only award a yellow card.
Fifa rules for a head-butt state that if it goes into the chest - as Barrios did originaly - then the ref can give a yellow for the altercation.
But this can - and should, according to former whistler Mark Clattenburg - have been upgraded to a red for violent conduct, as after making contact with Henderson's chest Barrios jerked his head towards the Liverpool man's chin.
Clattenburg revealed: "England aren't getting justice with the VAR system.
"Clearly the ref hasn't seen it. The defender has put his head into Henderson's chest - which is a yellow card.
"But then he lifts his head up, which to me is violent conduct.
"Instead of the referee giving his opinion, I'd rather see the ref go and make the correct right decision, which was a red card."
ITV pundit Gary Neville blasted Colombia's tactics during the half-time break.
The former Three Lions star roared: "You can tell what type of game Colombia want. The coach doing that on the way off the field tells you.
"They want it to be stop-start. They want it to have no flow, it suits them.
"England have to make sure they keep the ball in play and keep the ball moving, not get involved.
"It's a red card. Stonewall."
Barcelona defender Yerry Mina also had a dig at the ref and had the audacity to question the foul on Kane for his penalty.
He said: “The refereeing favoured them a little. We told the ref to consult VAR on the penalty but he didn’t do it.
“We knew they had been going down in the box looking for a penalty."
And Colombia manager, Argentinian Jose Pekerman, also questioned the ref over the Kane penalty decision.
He said: “I don’t know if it was really a penalty. There are too many contradictions in the current rules.
“They won but they never really made the difference against us.”