Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel was left fuming with the referee and the VAR system after his side were denied a penalty and later defeated by Argentina in Saint Petersburg.
The Super Eagles were tied with the Argentines and poised to progress from Group D, when defender Marcos Rojo headed the ball onto his own arm in the penalty area.
Nigerian appeals instantly went up causing referee Cuneyt Cakir to consult VAR for a definitive verdict, before ruling against a spot kick.
I don't understand how that wasn't a penalty,' said Nigeria skipper John Obi Mikel.
'For me, it was a clear handball. If you look at the game yesterday, Portugal, that wasn't even close to this. This was even worse - very open. He headed the ball and it hit his hand.
'Maybe the referee has given the first penalty, he doesn't want to give the second one. But a penalty is a penalty. If it's a penalty, you can still give a penalty.
'We've seen it again in the dressing room, it was a clear penalty. There wasn't any way the referee could not give that.
'He looked at the VAR. I asked him, "Did it hit the hand?' He said 'Yes". But why it's not a penalty...he said he doesn't know.'
Nigeria, who have the youngest team at the tournament, came into the match needing to avoid defeat to hopefully progress to the knockout rounds.
Following the incident it was Rojo himself who would pop up with a late volley to send Argentina through to the latter stages.
'It's a big disappointment,' manager Gernot Rohr said at the final whistle.
'My team gave their best. They played a very good second half and missed qualifying by just a few minutes. These kind of matches build the character of the team.
'In the end Argentina were pushing, pushing, pushing. And they have great players. This is championship level and we are not ready for that now. It was also down to a little bit of luck and we didn't have it today.'
Nigeria fell behind to an early goal from Lionel Messi, who opened his account in Russia with the tournament's 100th goal, but the Africans equalised from the penalty spot six minutes into the second half.
Rojo then turned in Gabriel Mercado's cross in the 86th minute to snatch victory for Argentina.
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