After the Egypt and Argentina controversy: technology saves Letexier from a scandal in the Real Madrid v Roma match

Roma's clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League threw up a string of refereeing controversies, and French official Francois Letexier was far from flawless, according to an Italian assessment of the key moments at the Olimpico.

Letexier was already under scrutiny. Around three months ago he found himself at the centre of a storm over his handling of Egypt against Argentina in the round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup, ruling out a goal for the Pharaohs and turning down two penalty appeals, decisions that refereeing experts openly questioned.

Trouble seems to follow the Frenchman around, albeit on a smaller scale this time, with Italian pundits picking apart his calls in Roma against Real Madrid.

Italian newspaper "Corriere dello Sport" zeroed in on the offside calls, which wrongly wiped out two legitimate goals. The paper stressed that "responsibility for these errors does not lie with the main referee alone, but is shared with his assistants, while technology settled some of the incidents and put matters right".

Letexier and his assistants err on offside calls: technology intervenes

It was not an exceptional night for Letexier, who shares the blame for the errors with his assistants.

According to the report, the officials handled the offside situations badly and grasped some of them very poorly indeed. Two goals that should have stood were chalked off.

Corriere dello Sport pointed out that scrubbing two legitimate goals is no small thing at this level, while acknowledging that the technology can go beyond what the human eye manages and land on the right answer.

Elsewhere, the report noted that the Frenchman set a high bar for fouls from the first whistle and stuck to that approach even in decisive moments inside the box.

The numbers back it up. Letexier gave 23 fouls and produced four yellow cards, though the report reckons he missed another one for Marc Cucurella, who grabbed Soule and held him back.

His mark from the Italian paper: 6 out of 10.

Did Bellingham deserve a penalty against Roma?

Real Madrid howled for a penalty for Jude Bellingham, an incident that came moments before Malen scored a goal initially ruled out for offside.

Mancini did make contact with Bellingham's left foot, the assessment confirms, but the touch was slight and nowhere near enough for a spot-kick.

So the report backs the decision to wave away Real Madrid's appeals, however loudly the Spanish side protested.

The goals of Roma and Real Madrid

Every goal that stood was legitimate, the assessment found, with the one exception of Mbappe's effort, ruled out for offside.

Malen's goal, initially ruled out

Soule slid the ball through to Malen at a moment when the Dutch forward looked offside, and second assistant Rahmouni's flag went up.

Semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) overturned it. The replay showed Federico Valverde keeping everyone onside, meaning Malen's goal was legitimate and should never have been cancelled.

Aspe's goal legitimate despite the doubts

Carlos Aspe's goal also checked out. Endrick headed the ball at goal, Svilar saved, and the rebound fell to Aspe, who turned it into the net.

Wesley carried most of the responsibility for keeping Aspe onside, the report says, having been slow to step up and spring the offside trap, while Molina played his part too.

Mbappe's disallowed goal was offside

Kylian Mbappe's disallowed goal, by contrast, was the correct call. Replays put him marginally ahead of De Roon's left heel at the moment the ball was played, and that made him offside.

Assessment of the video assistant referee

Dutchman Higler took the VAR chair and earned 6.5 out of 10. He had plenty on his plate, but the technology made reviewing the incidents and reaching the right decisions a good deal simpler.