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Luka Modric blasts ‘disaster’ referee in Argentina defeat.
Daniele Orsato, the official who officiated Croatia’s loss to Argentina, has come under fire from Luka Modric.
Tuesday night’s 3-0 loss to their South American opponents stopped Modric and his country from reaching their second consecutive World Cup final.
They got off to a good start and may have even had the advantage for the first 30 minutes, but shortly after that Lionel Messi handed Argentina the lead from the spot after goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was found to have fouled Julian Alvarez within the penalty box.
Whether it was a penalty or not was a matter of dispute, and Modric was adamant that the Italian referee had stirred up too much debate with his selections.
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“Argentina was a fair winner of the game, they were better, they deserved to win, but these things have to be mentioned, I generally don’t do them, but today they have to be done,” he said.
“I don’t like to talk about referees but this is one of the worst. I don’t have a good memory of him, he’s a disaster. For me it wasn’t a penalty.
“Despite this, I don’t want to detract from Argentina. The penalty killed us. We have to recover for the third place play-off and win that game.”
To add to the controversy, Croatia should have had a corner shortly before the penalty but a goal kick to Argentina was awarded instead.
Mateo Kovacic argued both decisions were big mistakes on the referee’s part.
“Both situations seem incredible to me, first that he did not give a corner and then that,” the Chelsea midfielder added. “I never talk about the referees, but they are huge errors and it cost us.”