Former English Premier League referee Mike Dean insists the official in the Ghana- Portugal game should have consulted the Video Assistant Referee before awarding Ronaldo a penalty.
American referee Ismail Elfath awarded Ronaldo a penalty after Mohammed Salisu shoved the ball off the feet of the ex-Manchester United forward.
Video angles from the game showed Salisu had reached the ball before the Portugal captain, but VAR failed to intervene leaving Ronaldo to score a record breaking goal.
“The defender [Salisu] clearly plays the ball. 'Ronaldo then touches the back of the defender, goes down, instigated contact," said the ex-referee during his analysis of the game.
“It's not the referee's fault – he's given the decision on the field of play. The VAR, in my opinion, should have got involved and invited the referee over to have a look at it.
“It's scary, I have to say. I'm just astounded. I like to back referees all the time but you can't support stuff like that. You can't defend the indefensible.
“It should have been overturned. He should have gone to the screen, he should have looked at it. There may have been some technical glitch that we don't know about. I just can't understand why he wasn't sent to the screen. 100 per cent it's wrong.”