Revealed: How long the ball was in play during stoppage time of the Euro 2024 final - after claims the referee blew the whistle early in England loss
- Referee Francois Letexier appeared to blow the full time whistle early in the final
- It has now been revealed how much longer England should have had to score
- LISTEN to It's All Kicking Off! EUROS DAILY: Will Gareth Southgate stick around for the World Cup?
How long the ball was in play during stoppage time of the Euro 2024 final has been revealed.
England fell short in their bid to win a first major trophy since 1966 on Sunday night, losing 2-1 to Spain in the final of the competition in Berlin through a late strike from Mikel Oyarzabal.
The game had looked like it was heading for extra time after Cole Palmer had cancelled out Nico Williams' opener, but Oyarzabal got on the end of Marc Cucurella's cross to poke home and give Spain the win.
Four minutes of stoppage time were issued by referee Francois Letexier, giving England hope of what had become a traditional late comeback, but they were unable to break down the Spain defence for another late goal.
Claims have come, however, that Lexier blew his whistle early, with the game ending three seconds over 94 minutes, despite a number of stoppages in the extra time period.
The length of time the ball was in play during extra time in the Euro 2024 final has been revealed
England fell short in their bid to win a first major trophy since 1966 in Berlin on Sunday night
Fans claimed that referee Francois Letexier (centre) didn't play enough extra time in the game
Claims came that the game was ended early with England chasing another late equaliser
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It has now been revealed how long the ball was in play for during those four minutes, and the readings only boost England's case that the end of the game came too soon.
A fan on TikTok has shared a video calculating the exact time of the ball being in play, and it has been shown as being one minute out of the four.
There were a number of throw ins given in the four minutes, with Cole Palmer and Marc Guehi also among those fouled to give England free kicks.
At the other end of the pitch, there was an extended break in play when Cucurella went down holding his face under a challenge from Bukayo Saka.
England thought they had one last opportunity to launch the ball forward at the end of the game when they were awarded a free kick in their own half after a foul by Mikel Merino, but the whistle was blown before Jordan Pickford could kick long.
The video has now shown that an additional three minutes should have been played.
The full time whistle was blown moments after England were awarded a free kick in their own half
Fans were left wondering whether England could have come back to again force extra time
'Referee was good but don't really understand why he ended the game early,' one fan posted on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the whistle.
'Icl the referee should've given at least another 2 mins, last 4 mins half of it was wasted and he even blew the whistle early,' another added.
A third wrote: 'Cannot believe the referee has blown up at least 2 minutes early there.'
Spain claimed their fourth European Championship with the victory, which was their first major international trophy - bar winning the Nations League last year - for 12 years.
