Gary Neville fumed at the referee as England crashed out of the World Cup to France, calling him "a joke" and "rank bad".
Wilton Sampaio's decision-making was under the spotlight when Bukayo Saka was caught by Dayot Upamecano in the build-up to Aurélien Tchouaméni's opening goal for France.
The French defender was involved again later in the half, seemingly fouling Harry Kane as he entered the box on the right but VAR failed to intervene, presumably deeming the contact outside the box.
England did finally get a penalty when Saka was fouled by Tchouaméni before VAR had to step in to award their second penalty for a foul on Mason Mount, although Kane fired the decisive penalty over.
Neville said of the referee: "He had an absolute nightmare. A joke of a referee. I'm not saying it was all down to England's defeat - people will say it is excuses - but he's just a bad referee, rank bad."
Neville believed France's first goal should have been ruled out for the foul on Saka: "It's a simple decision. He kicks his leg away - I'm not sure why that isn't a foul. He's nibbled and he's kicked him. It should be a free-kick. Upamecano has tried to win the ball on three or four occasions where can't win the ball, on Saka, on Kane."
Bellingham and Maguire slam referee: 'Really poor' - 'Not at the level'
England's Jude Bellingham also said after the game that Sampaio was "not at the level" expected for such a big occasion.
Asked about the official's performance, Bellingham told ITV: "Not great if I'm being honest, not great. Anyone can have a bad game, players and referees. I think he wasn't where he should have been today in terms of the level for a game like this.
"But there are more factors as to why we lost, this definitely isn't me putting it all on him, we were the ones who played the game, but yeah I don't think he was at the level tonight.
"I think there were a few [fouls] around the box in the first half, we are deadly at set pieces, and I think any one of those can make the difference."
Harry Maguire also told BBC: "Really poor, very poor. From minute one, there were five, six fouls in the first 15 minutes, not one yellow card. It's a foul for the first goal, leading up to it on Bukayo.
"I can't really go into explaining how bad his performance was. I don't want to go into too much because I'll end up getting fined. But even though the big decisions were wrong he never gave us anything, throughout the game he was really poor."
But manager Gareth Southgate stopped short of criticising Sampaio, saying: "We've lost the game. I don't think about referees. France are a fantastic team, with fantastic players. Didier has done a fantastic job. Congratulations to them. I don't think it's right, especially when you lose, to speak about the officials."
Analysis: Referee performance under scrutiny
Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol in Qatar:
"From early on, England fans were not happy with the referee.
"For France's first goal, there appeared to be a clear foul on Saka. On the second penalty, surely Theo Hernandez should have got a red card for that because he wasn't trying to get the ball.
"And everyone sitting around me couldn't believe Griezmann didn't receive a red card. How many fouls did he make?
"And why did the referee need to use VAR so often? Some of the decisions should have been a clear-cut.
"And why was a referee from Brazil refereeing this game? I presume that he hasn't taken charge of many games with French and English players.
"I thought the referee's performance was questionable."