Henry, Van Persie, Maradona: What are the worst refereeing decisions ever?

It’s tough to imagine why anyone would want to be a referee. Possibly the most thankless task in all of football, even when an official gets all of their calls spot on, they are unlikely to receive much in the way of praise. Make a bad decision, however, and fans aren’t likely to let them forget it in a hurry.

Some refereeing decisions, though, have been so terrible that their legacy has lived on well past the final whistle of the match in which it was made.

Calls don’t come much more controversial than the decision to allow Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal at the 1986 World Cup, where the legendary Argentine clearly used his hand to divert the ball into the net against England.

It’s now been 36 years – and some Three Lions supporters still aren’t truly over it.

Maradona is far from the only player to have been allowed an unfair advantage thanks to a shocking piece of officiating as we take a look at some of football’s other shambolic refereeing blunders from down the years.

England don’t have much luck at World Cup finals.

Lampard believed he had given his country a priceless equaliser in their round of 16 clash against Germany 12 years ago. His effort crashed against the underside of the bar, before clearly crossing the line.

It should have been 2-2. Everyone could see it, except apparently the match officials – who waved for play to continue.

Cruelly denied, Fabio Capello’s men fell to a 4-1 defeat and crashed out of the tournament.

If there’s one man who knows how Lampard feels, it’s former Spurs midfielder Pedro Mendes.

Mendes’ hopeful effort from the half-way line at Old Trafford should have been about as routine a save as they come for United ‘keeper Carroll.

The Northern Irishman made a right hash of the situation,