Aston Villa: Youri Tielemans decision baffles as ex-FIFA ref reacts to World Cup scenes

Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans played a starring role in one of the World Cup's most dramatic moments yet.

Tielemans won a penalty in extra time of Belgium's action-packed last-32 clash with Senegal in Seattle on Wednesday night.

The 29-year-old converted the spot kick to put Belgium 3-2 ahead in the 125th minute of a game they trailed 2-0 with five minutes of normal time to go.

However, referee Said Martinez did not initially point to the spot when Lamine Camara slid for the ball and caught Tielemans.

Instead, VAR intervened and referee Martinez decided to overturn his initial decision after a seven-minute delay.

And former FIFA referee Keith Hackett has now shared exclusively to Villa News why he believes the officials got the call wrong.

Why VAR shouldn't have intervened over controversial Youri Tielemans moment

Tielemans' performance for Belgium did not go down well with the national press - up until his dramatic intervention.

Not only did he win the penalty and then keep his cool to convert, he also levelled up for Belgium late in normal time.

But Hackett does not believe Belgium should ever have been awarded a pen, as it was not a clear and obvious error from Martinez.

"A challenge that appeared to be a natural coming together of two players resulted in the VAR advising the referee to visit the pitchside monitor," he said.

"To the amazement of Senegal, he announced the award of a penalty to Belgium. Frankly, in my opinion, VAR was wrong to intervene.

"The referee had not made a clear and obvious error and, after taking a great deal of time reviewing the incident, he awarded a penalty kick to Belgium.

"In my opinion, this was the wrong decision. It was not a foul."

Roy Keane and Gary Neville in agreement on penalty call

The decision to award a penalty was arguably the biggest of the tournament so far.

In what was a thrilling game, we were heading for a shootout until that contentious moment.

Speaking on ITV Sport after the game, pundits Roy Keane and Gary Neville were in agreement on the call.

"The penalty is a bit harsh and the referee took so long to look at the screen," Keane said.

"You want conviction in the referee's decision and he was hesitating for a long time."

Neville added: "I genuinely don't believe that is a penalty. I think if Tielemans gets a touch on the ball and then gets kicked, fair enough."

Tielemans will not care one bit, of course, as his adventure in North America continues for at least another few days.