Bojan Miovski sparks England penalty fury as Aberdeen striker benefits from 'ridiculous' Rico Lewis slap decision

It will have Aberdeen and Scotland fans chuckling, but the decision to award Bojan Miovski a penalty against England has been slammed by Three Lions fans and pundits.

Gareth Southgate's side confirmed their qualification for Euro 2024 last month and are seeing out their campaign with the dead rubber in Skopje. The Auld Enemy are amongst the favourites to lift the trophy in Germany, although their qualifying displays have left a lot to be desired at times. That seems to be the case so far in North Macedonia as well.

Dons striker Miovski, who has the Viaplay Cup Final with Aberdeen against Rangers to look forward to next month, led the line for the hosts and won their controversial spot kick five minutes before half-time. He challenged for a bouncing ball with Manchester City starlet Rico Lewis and went down clutching his face. A VAR review resulted in Slovakian ref Filip Glova pointing to the spot.

Enis Bardhi stepped up but his effort from 12 yards was saved by Jordan Pickford. However, the Trabzonspor midfielder's luck was in as the rebound fell kindly for him and he converted at the second attempt to give his side a shock lead.

But the consensus was that Miovski was extremely fortunate to get the decision, with the officials taking a pasting. Former England keeper and BBC analyst Rob Green said: "He has only slightly flicked the player in the eye. A rubbish decision. It's re-refereeing. Unfortunate, nothing more."

Sky pundit Jamie Carragher posted: "Bizarre these VAR penalties that get given in Europe. What's more bizarre is that they didn't give one against Maguire!"

And Match of the Day host Gary Lineker reckons it was the most ridiculous he'd ever seen. He said: "It’s not important in the slightest, but that’s the