Moroccan-American referee, Ismail ElFath, who has been heavily criticised for awarding Portugal a "controversial" penalty in a match against Ghana has broken silence.

According to reports, Ismail ElFath said he was in the right for awarding Ronaldo a penalty, which enabled Portugal to lead the game.

He indicated that he was professional and holds nothing against Ghana. He said based on what he saw at that moment, it was a penalty.

According to the referee, he used to play soccer with Ghanaians in the US in his neighborhood, thus regrets the uproar the game has brought.

The penalty decision handed 3 points to Portugal and sent Ronaldo into the top of FIFA World Cup records ahead of Pele and Maradona.

Many pundits around the world say the referee’s penalty call was wrong while a third goal by Rafael Leao has come up strongly as a possible offside.